Slack acquired for $28bn by Salesforce - What this means for remote work ๐โ
It's official - Slack acquisition for $27.7bn by Salesforce in a cash & stock megadeal. Slack's stock price surged to an all-time high which is a no-brainer given how much Slack stands to gain from this deal. Yes, Slack is 'widely popular' but it is unprofitable & faces stiff competition from MS Teams - Slack only has 1/10th of daily active users compared to MS Teams. More about it on this thread.
What's more interesting to look at is the impact this will have on remote working.
NEW: Salesforce is in advanced talks to acquire Slack as early as next week!
โ Hrishikesh Pardeshi (@hrishiptweets) November 27, 2020
Here's why I think it can be a winning combination ๐
[[ Thread ]] pic.twitter.com/4jcWnbExuA
Plans to create an Operating System for the new way of working
The press release by both companies already claims that the acquisition will accelerate the shift to an all-digital world, where work happens wherever people are - office, home or anywhere else.
How so? To start with, Slack will become the new interface for Salesforce Customer 360, a tool that allows companies to connect Salesforce apps, map teams & bring together all data sources across an organization. Basically, a single place that gives you the entire picture of a customer. And now, Slack becomes a part of it to create what they call an OS for our new way of working.
But will this acquisition of Slack change my experience in any way as an existing Slack user?
Mostly not. Salesforce is known to not meddle much with how the acquired company/product looks or works. This goes back to its early acquisition of Heroku in 2011 to its more recent acquisition of Tableau. In all cases, the original product operates as is & gives the same experience even post acquisition.
So will Slack turn into Salesforce Chat? Highly unlikely.
To conclude, the deal looks like a win-win for both companies, more so for Slack and poses a threat for MS Teams. As for remote working, it surely seems like a strong bet on companies adopting work from anywhere on a large scale.
Other interesting remote work conversations ๐
1. Hawaii is offering free round trip tickets to remote workers! Read to know what the nomads on our community have to say about this - Link here.
2. Karthik shares how going remote has helped him spend more time with his dog, Rocket. Both of them totally love it ๐ Read more about it here.