Item: Slack
Rating: 9
Author: Benjamin Young

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

At Rackspace we use Slack for messaging, video conferences, project management, and collaboration. Rackspace uses Slack across the entire of the company. Rackspace is a worldwide company and Slack allows for secure communication and collaboration between teams and individuals across the world. Slack also provides a screen sharing feature [that] enables techs to receive escalation assistance without people having to leave their desks.

Pros and Cons

Video conferencing
Break out team groups for group communication
Project management

Some of the configuration changes are hard to find and navigate.
Some management changes are split between the computer application and the web app and then they sink between the two.

Return on Investment

It increases IT case closure with its ability to collaborate with other techs.

Alternatives Considered

Skype

Skype is a decent product but I do not feel it has the usability that Slack has. I have also found Skype to be buggy for team collaboration. I also found it to have connection issues and needed to be restarted often.

Key Insights

Do you think Slack delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Slack's feature set?

Yes

Did Slack live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Slack go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Slack again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), OneNote, Microsoft System Center Service Manager

Likelihood to Recommend

When several of us were running [an] upgrade for a customer's environment we used Slack to run the project. We were able to video conference with the team members and the customer. We used Slack to detail the process for the upgrade. Then when it came time to do the upgrade we were able to video conference and screen share the process to [ensure] the project's success.

The Slack you must have

Overall Satisfaction with Slack