Slack is our platform for innovation and creativity

Slack Enterprise Grid connects On AG’s global organization and increases productivity, transparency and security

Whether for cross-training, in the city or even at the club – there is currently no getting around the running shoes from On AG. The success story began in Switzerland in 2010 and has made waves worldwide. This is also reflected in the innovative company’s financials: in the first quarter of 2025, On AG generated over 726 million Swiss francs in revenue – an impressive increase of 43 % year-on-year. Innovative capacity and growth on this scale naturally require the right technology for productivity and collaboration. On AG has been relying on Slack for years. Omid Habibi, Workspace Lead On AG, shares in the session how he has taken the use of the platform for collaboration in the global organization to a new level.

 

 

For On AG’s globally distributed employees, Slack is the place where everything happens. “Slack is crucial to our ability to innovate, as it is essential to the way we work,” explains Omid. Supporting creative processes across departments and locations with Slack is not a one-size-fits-all approach. While a common understanding of the use of such a centralized application and clear guidelines are essential, the “Slack champions” shape how Slack is used in day-to-day work within their teams. When switching to Enterprise Grid, Habibi and his colleagues trained a group of employees from various departments and regions to take on this role. They have extensive knowledge, coach their colleagues and ensure compliance with guidelines. At the same time, they adapt the way Slack is used to the specific needs of different business units. For Habibi, Slack is much more than a platform for collaboration – it is an integral element in shaping the culture of work and innovation.

Standardization and individualization don’t have to be a contradiction in terms, Habibi emphasizes: “Slack is a highly customizable tool. This allows for scaling the degree of freedom for users, who still have to operate within certain guardrails.” A key example, which might seem minor at first glance, is the naming of channels. In contrast to many other organizations, all users are allowed to create channels at On AG. However, there are clear naming conventions. “This used to be major pain point for me: The sheer variety of channel names made it incredibly difficult to find the right one.” Support now comes in the form of purpose-built workflow: employees describe the purpose of the new channel, and an appropriate, compliant name is generated automatically.

 

 

This naming workflow was just one of the results of working with Slack Professional Services to migrate to Enterprise Grid. Habibi recommends this approach to any company for a project of this size: “Together we conducted a thorough analysis, identified gaps such as missing automations and completed a seamless migration in just twelve weeks. The ideas and insights from Professional Services truly helped us move forward.” This also included an audit of the Slack user base, which uncovered a large number of guest users through an automated comparison with the HR system. To increase the security of the Slack environment at On AG, this process is now repeated several times a year to remove inactive or no longer needed user profiles. In general, centralization through Enterprise Grid helps to gain more control and understanding across all relevant aspects from platform usage to security management.

 

For Habibi, the “custom sections” function in Enterprise Grid is a personal highlight: “Being able to organize my channels and conversations based on my own preferences really helps me stay on top of things in my daily work.” A workflow for the weekly status update with the employees in his department now replaces tedious reports and gives the entire team a cleared, shared overview. Workflows and automation are also becoming increasingly common throughout the company. According to Habibi, there were reservations simply due to unfamiliar terminology. However, his colleagues are now experiencing just how easy it is to set them up – and how much value even simple integrations like connecting calendar applications alone can add to their day-to-day work.

 

The near future with Slack promises a range of new workflows and integrations to further increase productivity and efficiency.  notes: “We have an exciting time ahead, and I’m really looking forward to it”, Habibi concludes.