Slack Gets a Productivity-Focused Update

Slack, the popular business messaging and collaboration platform, which Salesforce recently acquired for over $27 billion, received a new productivity-focused update which businesses should find helpful.

The update comes with a major redesign aimed at making it easier for users to navigate and better access various tools.

"Businesses are increasingly looking for new ways of working and tools to support efficiency," the company said in a blog post. "In fact, the majority of leaders (71%) say they’re under pressure from their company’s management to make their teams more productive. However, studies also show that business app volumes within organizations have increased nearly 10% in the past year, surpassing 1,000 on average. Plus, fewer than 30% are integrated, creating data silos that lead to rising costs, duplicated work, productivity bottlenecks, and disconnected experiences."

The company says Slack, particularly with the new update, gives businesses a "command center" with seamless integration with apps in one place, as well as the automation of admin and time-consuming processes and collaboration.

With the update, users can view channels from all of their workspaces from the home screen, so they can see what they need to without having to go back and forth from workspace to workspace.

There are dedicated views that let teams focus their attention as needed, as well as more quickly navigate tools and conversations. According to Salesforce, the idea with the new structure is that teams get more control over where they are spending their time.

"For example, as teams start their day, they can jump into Activity to get up to speed on work that’s in motion and important to them," the company explains. "They can then set aside time to respond to their unread Direct Messages when they’re in between meetings. And, when they need to come back to a message or action item, they can simply save it to Later — where they can even set a reminder to make sure it is completed on time. In More, they’ll also find tools that help them be productive — including canvas, workflows, and apps."

The design lets users save time on routine actions, and this time can add up to increased productivity, especially as time goes on.

There is also a new "Create" button, which lets users quickly create new messages, channels, canvases, and/or huddles from one spot. Additionally, an update to the search feature lets users click into each result for the full context without having to go back and forth to find what they need.

The update seems to be generally productivity-driven, which is what Slack is all about at its core. There are not a lot of new major features, but rather helpful tweaks to usability, which are truly the best way to help teams on a day-to-day basis. It is all about efficiency and saved time, and that can be an incredible help to businesses as they navigate the day-to-day grind.

The update is currently in the process of rolling out, so if you are a Slack user and you have not noticed any changes just yet, be patient, and you will likely see them in the near future.