Why nearly 80% of Fortune 100 companies rely on Slack Connect to build their digital HQ

The work-from-anywhere business model is here to stay. Research shows that 76% of knowledge workers want flexibility in where they work and 93% want flexibility in when they work. Globally, we’re seeing more and more leaders embrace a digital infrastructure as the backbone of work.

Slack is committed to helping companies like IBM, T-Mobile and Target build a digital HQ so they can thrive in this new era of work. That doesn’t mean replicating existing work patterns in a virtual space—it means fundamentally reshaping how work gets done, both internally and externally.

While legacy software and full-suite providers may offer fledgling copycat solutions, those often lead to siloed and disjointed communication, plus rampant app switching. Seamless connection and collaboration may prove unattainable, and the burden on IT administrators can increase exponentially. Enter Slack Connect.

Slack Connect has become the default standard for companies like Zendesk, Airbnb and Time to collaborate with external organizations with the same speed and the same security and compliance controls they’ve come to expect with Slack. Just like the way you would invite partners, customers and guests to work in your physical office, Slack Connect allows you to securely collaborate with them in your digital HQ.It’s used by more than 100,000 organizations, including 77 of the Fortune 100 companies, demonstrating the network effect of a mature and innovative product.

Eighty-three percent of users believe losing access to working with partners in Slack Connect would negatively affect their ability to get work done. And an IDC MarketScape assessment named Slack as a leader among major collaboration and community apps for our speed, reliability, robust developer community and variety of integrations.

Wirecutter, a New York Times company, also named Slack the best team messaging app, stating, “With a refined interface and the best array of features, Slack makes having online conversations with teammates easy and enjoyable.”

Here are a handful of ways we’re empowering top-notch teams to do their best work alongside their clients, customers and partners.

Faster, more flexible ways to collaborate with partners

When it comes to working with partners and customers, ad hoc collaboration is a notorious challenge. Slack Connect breaks down silos and speeds up communication by bringing everyone together in your digital HQ to get work done. From discussing the ins and outs of a contract to reviewing the latest designs from your creative agency, Slack Connect makes real-time collaboration happen.

With recent enhancements to Slack Connect, Slack Enterprise Grid customers can collaborate with anyone in their Slack workspace, regardless of whether they’re already Slack customers. This allows you to host any company within your digital HQ—without asking them to become paid Slack members themselves. What’s more, up to 250 organizations can collaborate in one channel. And when it comes to the number of channels you and your team need in your digital HQ, you never have to worry about a cap. You can create as many or as few as you need.

With Slack Connect, Free Now, Europe’s largest taxi app, collaborates with external partners across Slack workspaces, making it much easier to get work done in real time. The company currently uses Slack Connect with 40 partner organizations, and it has plans to add even more.

Digital-first tools that make work more simple, pleasant and productive

Digital-first means encouraging teams to work when and where it’s best for them. We’ve prioritized flexibility through developing new tools that promote asynchronous work. Slack Connect extends the power of these new capabilities to our customers’ entire external network, making work more simple, pleasant and productive for everyone:

Slack huddles: Sometimes the easiest way to reach a decision with partners is to talk through all your options. Slack huddles, which works seamlessly with Slack Connect, is a lightweight, audio-first way to re-create the fast, informal discussions that took place when everyone met in the office. As Slack’s fastest-adopted new capability, huddles are also a much-needed alternative to back-to-back video calls.

Clips: Rather than getting everyone together synchronously to talk, clips provide a more flexible way to share ideas and feedback with vendors, or to just say hello with recorded audio and video clips in Slack. Anyone in a channel or direct message (DM)—whether in Slack Connect or not—can play clips and reply in-thread with a clip of their own, at a time that works best for them.

Scheduled send: Whether you’re trying to avoid sending customers and partners after-hours messages or ensure that messages are seen, you might not want to share a message right away. Scheduled send allows you to set a time you’d like your message to go out, helping you communicate more empathetically and effectively with people both inside and outside your organization.

Save precious time on routine work with apps and workflows

Without visibility into another organization’s tools, it can be a real time sink to complete everyday tasks. Slack Connect allows you and your partners to use any of its more than 2,500 apps or build a custom integration unique to how your team works. These tools can help automate and streamline manual processes with your external colleagues, giving you time back to focus on the more creative side of work.

Case in point, meet Procore, a platform that helps construction professionals keep their projects on time, on budget and safe. Before the pandemic, Procore relied on email to communicate with its network of consultants, system integrators and construction associations.

Now Slack Connect is Procore’s go-to tool for secure collaboration with more than 100 external organizations. For onboarding new partners from consultants to construction associations, teams use Workflow Builder, a tool that lets anyone automate routine and repetitive tasks—with no coding required. Procore uses Workflow Builder to generate a welcome message with all the information that partners need to hit the ground running on projects, saving time and boosting productivity.

To make working with partners in Slack Connect even more efficient, check out some apps to get you started. Simplify meeting coordination, streamline access to files, or easily hop on video calls—all designed to help you spend less time with incompatible tools and more time actually working together.

Offer client and partner services that put security first

Admins and security professionals can sleep a little easier at night, knowing that all of Slack’s enterprise-grade security features and compliance standards extend to Slack Connect and their work with all their trusted partners. No matter the partnership, you can choose how you set up and customize Slack Connect to meet the needs of your organization.

In fact, research and strategic advisory firm Metrigy recently recognized Slack Connect’s out-of-the-box offering as a leading choice for usability, risk minimization and policy enforcement available today among team collaboration applications. Metrigy backs Slack Connect’s direct federation approach—which enables companies to connect their team collaboration apps to one another via shared channels—for its highest level of security and support for integrations, as well as workflow automations that power a top-notch collaboration experience.

 

 

ModSquad, a globally distributed crew of customer experience experts, relies on Slack Connect to keep client and vendor data secure. With Slack Connect, ModSquad swiftly manages day-to-day issues and service requests, connects its project team with client contacts to keep stakeholders in the know, and addresses resource needs in real time to provide the best service to customers.

Transforming businesses with a new digital HQ

For organizations to thrive in a digital-first world, they must offer more flexible and productive ways of working—not just with their internal employees but with customers and external partners. Whether it’s accelerating marketing collaboration at 1-800-Flowers.com or delivering increased revenue and enhanced client relationships at Stripe, more than 100,000 customers have embraced the power of Slack Connect to extend the effectiveness of their digital HQ.