Salesforce Acquires Slack

In a whopping $27.7 billion deal, Salesforce announced it is buying Slack. The combination of the leading CRM and enterprise communication platforms is going to, according to Salesforce, create the operating system for the new way to work. An all-digital world that demands tools to seamlessly bring resources together no matter where they are. And nowhere was this need evident than the past nine months of the pandemic.

As companies large and small tried to remain operational, many of them identified the shortcomings of their digital presence. And this is what both CEOs explain in the announcement for the sale.

Salesforce Acquires Slack

Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO, Salesforce, goes on to say “Together, Salesforce and Slack will shape the future of enterprise software and transform the way everyone works in the all-digital, work-from-anywhere world.”

Stewart Butterfield, Slack CEO and Co-Founder, adds, “As software plays a more and more critical role in the performance of every organization, we share a vision of reduced complexity, increased power and flexibility, and ultimately a greater degree of alignment and organizational agility.”

The Operating System for the New Way to Work

In today’s all-digital ecosystem businesses can operate from anywhere and so can their workforce. This also means bringing their customers into the fold and flawlessly integrating everyone without skipping a beat across every touchpoint.

As the new interface for Salesforce Customer 360, Slack is going to bring everyone, from vendors to customers as well as employees and all its external partners, to enable communication and collaboration between them.

Salesforce says Slack is going to be deeply integrated into every Salesforce Cloud. The goal is to transform how people communicate, collaborate, and take action on customer information. This is across Salesforce and information from all business apps and systems. With this access and information, businesses can be more productive by making smarter and faster decisions.

And the good news is these are tools small businesses can readily use to optimize their workflow, communication, and customer relationships. Salesforce and Slack are not exclusively for enterprise use.

The Deal

The board of directors of Salesforce and Slack have approved the transaction. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal year 2022. This is subject to required regulatory and Slack stockholders approval.

Stewart Butterfield will continue as head of Slack as the company becomes an operating unit of Salesforce.

Image: Salesforce

This article, "Salesforce Acquires Slack" was first published on Small Business Trends