Quick take: Salesforce today announced new capabilities that help every department and industry build a digital HQ, plus new Slack innovations that improve collaboration across organizational boundaries and empower teams to embrace asynchronous working.
Why it matters: Companies in every industry are looking to create digital HQs that support remote and hybrid work across every department, and connect with customers operating in a hybrid world.
Table of Contents
Digital HQ for every department
- Slack-First Sales empowers sales teams to collaborate in real time to close more deals faster from anywhere.
- Slack-First Service allows service teams to automatically identify and bring the right experts into a case.
- Slack-First Marketing enables marketing teams and agency partners to collaborate in a shared digital workspace.
- Slack-First Commerce helps teams gain a deeper understanding of their business, adapt to changing trends, and connect with their customers and colleagues.
- Slack-First Digital Experiences helps companies deliver personalized digital experiences fast and engage more customers.
- Slack-First Platform empowers admins and developers to easily build and deploy apps with low-code tools that integrate data from any business system.
- Slack-First Trailhead powers personalized learning directly in the flow of work in Slack.
- Slack-First Analytics gives teams the insights they need right where they work to make smarter, faster decisions.
- Slack-First Integration with MuleSoft integrates multiple business apps directly into Slack, eliminating the need for context-switching between different software and systems.
- Slack-First Quip allows sales teams to work together in one digital workspace around a single view of the customer.
Digital HQ for every industry
- Slack-First Sustainability enables companies to efficiently collaborate with their suppliers to get investor-grade scope 3 reporting and to assist in reducing carbon emissions.
- Slack-First Corporate and Investment Banking helps bankers streamline communication and collaborate on deals faster from anywhere.
- Slack-First Healthcare and Life Sciences manages employee engagement on one integrated platform.
- Slack-First Philanthropy allows employees to donate, volunteer, and share their activity directly in Slack.
- Slack-First Nonprofit gives non-profit organizations a single platform to collaborate and support their community on.
- Slack-First Education helps institutions create a connected campus and ensure faculty, staff, students, and constituents stay aligned and on track.
Slack innovations power the Digital HQ
- Slack Clips allow teams to create, share, and consume video and audio content in channels in Slack.
- Connect Zoom to your Digital HQ makes it easy to instantly start or join a Zoom meeting directly from Slack.
- Enhancements to Slack Connect make it even easier to use Slack with partners who aren’t existing Slack users.
- GovSlack provides governments, their partners, and enterprises that need a higher level of compliance with a secure, centralized digital HQ.
Digital HQ for every department
Slack-First Sales
What is being announced?
Slack-First Sales empowers sales teams to collaborate in real-time to close more deals — faster — from anywhere. With digital deal rooms, sales reps now have the ability to access, update, and share Salesforce records directly in Slack, and new alert capabilities help teams stay up-to-date and aligned on important account updates.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
Digital deal rooms allow sales teams to securely collaborate around a customer or deal cycle in Slack. With files, conversations, and data in one place, teams can easily prepare for meetings, new reps can quickly onboard by accessing account details in Slack, and external partners and customers can join in directly to close deals fast.
Deal, Account, and Contact Management gives sales reps the ability to access Salesforce records and meeting information directly in Slack. Teams stay up-to-date with updates automatically posted from Salesforce, and intelligent alerts get served up automatically.
Alerts and Reminders allow reps to set up customizable reminders based on deal inactivity or approaching close date, and take action directly from reminders to keep deals up-to-date.
Pipeline View gives reps the ability to monitor and manage pipeline health within Slack to ensure deals stay on track and drive more predictable revenue.
When will these new capabilities be available?
These capabilities are expected to be available in the Summer ‘22 release.
Slack-First Service
What is being announced?
Slack-First Service allows service teams to automatically identify and bring the right experts into a case. New swarming and expert finder capabilities allow cross-functional teams to collaborate on priority incidents to resolve customer cases more efficiently and effectively.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
Case Swarming automatically creates a Slack channel or thread for service teams to collaborate on complex and high priority cases or incidents, bringing in the right cross-functional internal employees and external partners to solve problems faster.
Incident Swarming allows agents to pull together the right cross-functional experts, like legal, devops, and engineering, to collaborate in real time and identify and solve high-impact service incidents quickly, to minimize disruption to customers.
Expert Finder automatically identifies the right experts to add to a swarm channel based on availability, capacity, and skills.
When will these new capabilities be available?
Expert Finder and Case Swarming are expected to be available in the Spring ‘22 release and Incident Swarming is expected to be available in the Summer ‘22 release.
Slack-First Marketing
What is being announced?
Slack-First Marketing enables marketing teams and agency partners to collaborate in a shared digital workspace. Marketers can now accelerate journey planning with Einstein recommendations in Slack, and Pardot automation empowers all departments to collaborate on a single, shared view of the customer.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
Marketing Cloud Journeys for Slack accelerate all aspects of journey planning and execution with in-the-moment collaboration, custom approval workflows, and Einstein recommendations within Slack.
Pardot Automation for Slack allows marketing, sales, and service teams to collaborate around a single, shared view of the customer in Slack, and streamlines sales notifications to help teams stay aligned and up-to-date.
When will these new capabilities be available?
Marketing Cloud Journeys for Slack and Pardot Automation for Slack are both expected to be available in the Spring ‘22 release.
Slack-First Commerce
What is being announced?
Slack-First Commerce helps teams gain a deeper understanding of their business, adapt to changing trends, and connect with their customers and colleagues. New alert capabilities enable teams to stay ahead of business trends and resolve order issues fast.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
B2C Commerce Alerts in Slack enable commerce teams to stay ahead of business trends with automatic alerts directly in Slack across promotions, certificates, pricebooks, campaigns, coupons, and more. For example, alerts can be set up for campaign launches, and notify teams when metrics are out of date and need attention.
Order Management Exception Alerts in Slack help commerce teams resolve problems quickly by automatically alerting teams to order issues and bringing the right experts together to solve a case — directly in Slack. For example, teams can flag high-priority order exceptions in a Slack channel so service agents can make sure orders are fulfilled as soon as possible and customers are updated.
When will these new capabilities be available?
B2C Commerce Alerts in Slack is generally available now and Order Management Exception Alerts in Slack is expected to be available later this year.
Slack-First Digital Experiences
What is being announced?
Slack-First Digital Experiences helps companies deliver personalized digital experiences fast. New CMS integrations alert internal and external teams when new content is published to streamline communication and quickly engage more customers.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
Salesforce CMS Integration For Slack automatically alerts relevant internal and external teams in a shared space when new content is published. Teams can preview and more easily distribute content to maximize return — whether it’s through an AE sending a new blog to a prospect or an executive sharing fresh news on Linkedin.
When will these new capabilities be available?
Salesforce CMS Integration For Slack is expected to be available in the Spring ‘22 release.
Slack-First Platform
What is being announced?
Slack-First Platform empowers admins and developers to easily build apps with low-code tools that integrate data from any business system. New capabilities allow teams to create end-to-end workflows that surface actions and approvals across employees, partners, and customers directly in Slack.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
Flow for Slack allows teams to create end-to-end workflows to easily route complex approvals through multiple internal and external stakeholders.
App Builder for Slack allows teams to build apps that pull in and surface Salesforce data directly in Slack.
When will these new capabilities be available?
These are expected to be generally available in the Summer ‘22 release.
Slack-First Trailhead
What is being announced?
Slack-First Trailhead powers personalized learning directly in Slack. With the new Trailhead for Slack app, employees can work and learn in a single environment in Slack, and AI-powered recommendations help employees reach their development goals and organizations build workforce expertise for the future.
What capabilities does this give to customers?
Trailhead Search Slash Command allows employees to discover, share, and favorite new Trailhead and myTrailhead learning content directly in the flow of work, without ever leaving Slack.
Recommended Learning delivers personalized, Einstein AI-powered learning and content recommendations to make learning more relevant, engaging, and productive.
Home Tab enables employees to view in-progress, favorited, recommended, and assigned learning content to make learning more seamless and efficient.
When will these new capabilities be available?
These capabilities are available now.
Slack-First Analytics
What is being announced?
Slack-First Analytics gives teams the insights they need right where they work to make smarter, faster decisions. New Einstein capabilities enable teams to make AI-powered predictions, and notifications help teams stay up-to-date on relevant data and trends.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
Einstein Discovery in Slack allows teams to build AI-powered predictions and recommendations into all of their data directly in Slack.
Ask Data and Explain Data in Slack allows users to ask business questions directly in Slack using natural language and presents results as data visualizations with explanations behind the data.
Notifications in Slack deliver automated alerts directly in Slack to help users stay up-to-date on relevant data and trends.
When will these new capabilities be available?
Einstein Discovery in Slack is expected to be available in the Spring ‘22 release. Notifications in Slack are already GA for Tableau and is expected to be available in Tableau CRM in the Spring ‘22 release. Ask Data and Explain Data in Slack is expected to be available in 2022.
Slack-First Integration with MuleSoft
What is being announced?
Slack-First Integration with MuleSoft integrates multiple business apps directly into Slack, eliminating the need for context-switching between different software and systems. New capabilities allow users to connect apps and data to Slack with clicks, not code, and to include automated alerts in their workflows.
What capabilities does this give to customers?
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform Slack Connector helps users integrate software and custom apps right into Slack, to enable faster collaboration and avoid context-switching between multiple business apps across the organization.
MuleSoft Composer for Salesforce Slack Connector empowers users to connect apps and data to Salesforce with clicks, not code, and to include automated Slack notifications in their workflows.
When will these new capabilities be available?
Both of these capabilities are available now.
Slack-First Quip
What is being announced?
Slack-First Quip allows sales teams to work together in one digital workspace around a single view of the customer. Now sales teams can embed Quip documents directly into Slack, enabling easier collaboration and faster deal execution.
What capabilities does this give to customers?
Quip App for Slack allows sales teams to embed Quip documents directly into their Slack channels.
When will these new capabilities be available?
Quip App for Slack is available now.
Digital HQ for every industry
Slack-First Sustainability
What is being announced?
Slack-First Sustainability enables companies to efficiently collaborate with suppliers to get investor-grade scope 3 reporting and to assist in reducing carbon emissions. Automated workflows and secure questionnaires in Slack Connect make it easy to work together around science-based emission reduction targets, helping organizations accelerate the path to net zero.
What capabilities does this give to customers?
Reduce Emissions from Suppliers Safely helps businesses collaborate safely and securely with suppliers on science-based targets through Slack Connect.
When will these new capabilities be available?
New Sustainability Cloud innovations are expected to be generally available in 2022.
Slack-First Corporate and Investment Banking
What is being announced?
Slack-First Corporate and Investment Banking helps bankers streamline communication and collaborate on deals faster from anywhere. New capabilities let bankers create, share, and collaborate on account details in a single Slack channel.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
Financial Services Cloud in Slack allows bankers to access account information and collaborate with deal team members in a single Slack channel.
Interaction Summaries let bankers create, share, and collaborate on meeting notes without ever leaving Slack.
When will these new capabilities be available?
Both capabilities are expected to be available in the Summer ‘22 release.
Slack-First Healthcare and Life Sciences
What is being announced?
Slack-First Healthcare and Life Sciences manages employee engagement on one integrated platform. Now teams can streamline knowledge sharing with dedicated onboarding channels, bots, and alerts for essential resources to improve productivity and health outcomes.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
Physician, Care Team, & R&D Onboarding provides teams with a centralized onboarding experience.
Employee Engagement for Health Organizations enables social channels, real-time updates, wellbeing monitoring, and skill development for employees.
IT Support for Healthcare and Life Sciences Employees provides easy self-service options for employees to spend less time troubleshooting and more time getting work done.
When will these new capabilities be available?
These capabilities are available now.
Slack-First Philanthropy
What is being announced?
Slack-First Philanthropy brings employees closer to the causes they care about. New capabilities make giving social, allowing employees to donate, volunteer, and share their activity with their colleagues directly in Slack, increasing employee engagement and community impact.
What capabilities does this give to Salesforce customers?
Donate and Share allows employees to donate to organizations they care about within Slack.
Volunteer and Share enables employees to sign up for volunteer events or even to volunteer virtually and log employee volunteer hours directly in Slack.
Promote Causes and Campaigns allows employees to create and promote campaigns, causes, and events directly in Slack, and allows their colleagues to easily sign up to participate.
Connect with Nonprofit Partners enables employees to coordinate volunteer events with external partners in Slack with Slack Connect. Once a volunteer opportunity is created in Slack, the app immediately creates a channel and invites a nonprofit partner to connect.
When will these new capabilities be available?
These capabilities are expected to be available in 2022.
Slack-First Nonprofit
What is being announced?
Slack-First Nonprofit gives non-profit organizations a single platform to collaborate and support their community on. Now case managers can bring the right internal and external partners into Slack to streamline communication on client cases, and daily digests provide automated updates to help clients progress towards their goals.
What capabilities does this give to customers?
Daily Digests & Notifications surface critical deadlines and key updates to teams from Salesforce directly in Slack. For example, a case manager serving multiple clients can login to Slack and see all their must-dos, upcoming and overdue tasks, and upcoming client meetings in one screen.
Inbound Engagement allows teams to interface with clients without leaving Slack.
Direct & Channel Sharing allows the right experts across an organization to work on the right case, at the right time. For example, a case management team needing to provide service to an individual can collaborate in Slack on how to coordinate services.
Review & Approval allows teams to review and approve documents directly in Slack, while maintaining a log of historical updates to understand where changes have been made.
When will these new capabilities be available?
These capabilities are expected to be available in the Spring ’22 release.
Slack-First Education
What is being announced?
Slack-First Education helps institutions create a connected campus and ensure faculty, staff, students, and constituents stay aligned and on track. With the Student Success Alerts App for Slack, faculty can quickly notify advisors of student concerns, ensuring they receive fast and equitable access to the support they need, from anywhere.
What capabilities does this give to customers?
Student Success Alerts notify faculty and staff of student concerns, ensuring they receive fast and equitable access to the support they need, from anywhere.
When will these new capabilities be available?
These capabilities are expected to be available in the Summer ‘22 release.
Slack innovations power the Digital HQ
Slack Clips
With clips, users can leave quick and simple video or audio messages right from any Slack channel or DM, providing them with more flexible and asynchronous ways of communicating with their team. 
Clips make it easy to record your project updates or ideas and share them with your team, allowing others to watch and respond on their own schedule.
What is being announced?
Clips provide an alternative to the endless stream of back-to-back meetings and a more flexible and asynchronous way of communicating. With clips, users can easily create, share and consume video and audio content in channels – empowering them to contribute to the conversation on their own time. The playback experience with clips gives users the ability to speed up or slow down the content, read through the transcript, access archived recordings with searchable transcriptions, or watch on the go from a phone.
When will these new capabilities be available?
Clips begins rolling out today and is expected to be available to all paid teams in the Winter ‘22 release.
Connect Zoom to your digital HQ
What is being announced?
For times when people prefer to talk live and face-to-face, Zoom makes it easy to instantly start or join a meeting or call directly from Slack or Salesforce. Salesforce’s app with Einstein Conversation Insights surfaces personalized, coachable moments based on Zoom meeting recordings. In the future, customers will be able to use Slack as a Zoom App directly within Zoom meetings and share information about the meeting in Slack channels after the meeting has finished.
Slack Connect Enhancements
What is being announced?
Slack Connect brings communication out of siloed email inboxes into channels, so that teams can work quickly and collaboratively with outside organizations. New functionality makes it even easier to work with anyone in Slack, regardless of whether they’re already Slack customers.
When will these new capabilities be available?
Slack Connect enhancements are expected to be available to Slack Enterprise Grid customers in Winter 2022.
GovSlack
What is being announced?
Slack provides governments, their partners, and enterprises that need a higher level of compliance with a secure, centralized digital HQ. GovSlack is a version of Slack that runs in a government-certified cloud environment and provides the same boost to agency productivity, while enabling secure cross-collaboration.
When will these new capabilities be available?
GovSlack is expected to be available in 2022.
Learn more about Slack-first integrations here.
The following information is intended for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, and not as a binding commitment. Please do not rely on this information in making your purchasing decisions. The development, release and timing of any products, features or functionality remain at the sole discretion of Slack, and are subject to change.
Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” For more information please visit https://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.
Editor’s Note: This article references Salesforce Sustainability Cloud, which is now known as Net Zero Cloud. For the latest on Salesforce’e sustainability solutions, check out this product page. For the latest news on Salesforce’s sustainability efforts, check out this page.
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