Slack

Score9 out of 10

9,979 Reviews and Ratings

What is Slack?

Slack is a group messaging or team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and file sharing. Slack integrates with a number of other tools, such as MailChimp, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Slack was acquired by Salesforce in December 2020. The product is free to use, and also has paid plans with more features and greater controls. The company has raised $340M in funding and boasts 800k users.

Categories & Use Cases

Chat
Instant messaging tool allows users to communicate with select other users in real-time threads.
Category average: 9
Mobile Access
Mobile access is the ability to access the software from a smartphone or tablet.
Category average: 8.5
Discussions
Users can join groups or message boards for forum-style collaboration.
Category average: 8.5

Task Management
This includes the ability to plan, track, collaborate and report on tasks.
Category average: 7.8
Visual planning tools
Includes visual tools such as pinboards, mind-maps, or charts for collaborative brainstorming and/or workflow planning.
Category average: 7.8
Gantt Charts
Gantt charts are charts that show tasks or events along the y-axis displayed against time along the x-axis.
Category average: 7.4

Muhammad Rohan View profile

Director in Information Technology at Devtics Technologies (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am using Slack for my daily professional communications and integrations with my apps like Google Docs and Loom Video. I like how it can make channels for each project/task and you can discuss all the details of that specific topic there. I also like the integration of my Project Management software "Trello", because it can tell me about the updates happening in trello and I can update that cards back by staying in Slack.

Pros

Communication
Project Management
File Sharing
Integrations with various Apps

Cons

Backup of messages for low tier packages
Nicer way to show the data from integrated apps
Time zone / Notifications

Return on Investment

Arrangement of my projects
Effective communication
Huddle feature let me call my teammates
Available for free

Alternatives Considered

Skype and ClickUp

Other Software Used

Trello, Adobe PhotoShop, Google Sheets

Jeremy Herman View profile

Security Engineer in Engineering at Novatech (501-1000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Slack is mainly used by our coding team and also the Dev Ops side of the house. We recently developed VoIP software as well as a program called Tadpole to help with the process for setting up a printer. It helps our Team share links to Git Repos and also provides a shareable history so that people can track changes to the software we are producing.

Pros

Helps the team in America stay in contact with the team in India.
Easily share links to Googe Drive, Microsoft One Drive, or Dropbox
Conversations about coding are categorized and archived for later review.

Cons

Some coders feel like it monopolizes their attention.
Can create confusion if some of your team is also using Teams and they don't update Slack.
Trouble with formatting tables that are being imported into Powerpoint presentations.

Return on Investment

Projects are getting completed more quickly. In some cases we can ship completed code 2 weeks faster than expected.
We have noticed a drop in code conflicts when developers are both using the platform.
Devs that are more accustomed to using Slack enjoy the freedom to move away from Microsoft Teams.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams

Other Software Used

Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams Rooms

chaitanya prasad reddy potula View profile

Analyst in Information Technology at Hcltech (5001-10,000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Slack to communicate with my team members. It's better to use Slack instead of sending excessive emails to the team, and by this we can communicate effectively and we can improve the productivity of the work. More importantly its user interface was too clean and clear. I am impressed with some features, like scheduled messages. But sometimes it gets logged out frequently, and I need to log in every day.

Pros

Real time communication with team members.
Organized communication in separate channels.
Sending scheduled messages.
Clean and clear user interface.

Cons

Difficult to find a particular message in a conversation.
Need to improve audio and video quality.
Sometimes I am facing issues with file sharing.

Return on Investment

allow teams to automate workflows and respond faster.
Slack serves as a central notification hub, ensuring teams stay updated on alerts from external apps like Salesforce.
Experience confusion and friction when switching between platforms.

Usability

Other Software Used

Class for Zoom

Matt Aldridge View profile

Knowledge Lead in Information Technology at ACC New Zealand (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In a world of corporate all in one solutions, where businesses are insisting that all employees use Microsoft Teams, Slack is a sleek, fun, modern take on communication which when implemented right in a business, can bring a lot of engagement and life to communication which can otherwise become bland and sterile.

Pros

Engaging communications
Modern design
Enabling features for your work

Cons

Lack of integration with other platforms
Huddles are so bad, you'll have to use Zoom
Steeper learning curve for Microsoft users

Return on Investment

Enhanced communications
Made work fun
Automated workflows

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams, Trello, Microsoft Power Automate, Atlassian Confluence and Microsoft Viva Engage

Hans Fuchs View profile

Director of Partnerships in Sales at accessiBe (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Slack has been instrumental in helping us with interdepartmental communications across the globe as well as opening a clear line of communications with our clients. We have offices all over the world and real time communication had been a challenge. With all of Slack's integrations and the ability to send messages as well as files in real time has helped us tremendously. Additionally, whenever we onboard new clients we typically ask that we start a Slack channel for our communications.

Pros

Integrations
file sharing
group chats
notifications

Cons

More options for customizations
Color coded channels
The ability to be see all workspaces in one view

Return on Investment

We haven't yet qunatified the ROI of Slack's collaboration efforts and if I had to guess I would project a 75% increase in productivity
Slack has contributed a net positive increase in our collaboration

Slack

What is Slack?

Categories & Use Cases

Key Features

Top Performing Features

Chat

Mobile Access

Discussions

Areas for Improvement

Task Management

Visual planning tools

Gantt Charts

Reviews

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Other Software Used

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Other Software Used

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Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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Other Software Used

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