Salesforce has completed its $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack.
Slack will continue to operate under its own brand.
The aim of the acquisition is develop next generation digital-first apps and workflows for employers.
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Without digital tools it would have been nearly impossible for employees across the world to shift to remote working during the pandemic.
But remote working isn’t going anywhere; instead it is looking like the future of work will be hybrid where employees mix up their time between remote locations and an office space.
Therefore, HR tech, and particularly tools that keep teams connected, are going to be instrumental to the future of work.
In this context, cloud software giant Salesforce has completed its $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack.
This comes eight months after Salesforce initially announced plans to acquire the workplace communication platform. Slack has struggled to financially capitalize on the boom for remote working tools in the pandemic, due, in its view, to alleged aggressive, anti-competitive behavior from Microsoft and its Teams capability.
The aim of the acquisition is to better enable companies to connect with employees and customers virtually since the pandemic has proven it is not enough to just have a real-life HQ; they also need to create a digital equivalent to keep staff working remotely connected and engaged.
The deal will see Salesforce combine Slack with Salesforce Customer 360, which is a customer data platform with app integrations that was created in 2018.
This platform will now become Slack-first and will give customers a single source of truth and a way to seamlessly connect all apps that employees and customers use daily within their existing workflow.
With @salesforce and Slack uniting, you can pull all your systems together, automate smaller tasks to free up time for the big stuff, and operate with the efficiency you only dreamed of.
The pair will also work together on creating next generation digital-first aps and workflows for businesses and their employees.
Talking about the deal, Salesforce CEO and chair Marc Benioff said: “We couldn’t be more excited to have Slack as part of the Salesforce family, combining the number one CRM and the trailblazing digital platform for the work anywhere world.
“Together we’ll define the future of enterprise software, creating the digital HQ that enables every organization to deliver customer and employee success from anywhere.”
Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield added: “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink and reshape how and where we work.
“Salesforce and Slack are uniquely positioned to lead this historic shift to a digital-first world. I could not be more excited for what’s to come.”
As a result of the deal, Slack will continue to operate under it owns brand and be led by Butterfield.
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