Slack Announces Canvases, Huddles Coworking, and New Developer Platform
When Salesforce acquired Slack, it caused a buzz around the tech world that continues to be strong. Why? Flexibility in where and when we work is the new expectation. Salesforce’s answer: the digital HQ, powered by Slack.
Slack is innovating by following three principles: 1. Make what was hard in the office better; 2. Bring what we love from the office; 3. Creating unique value for the digital HQ.
Plus, for the first time ever, Slack’s new developer platform will be introduced in an open beta, where any developer can get their hands on the technology sooner (vs a closed beta, which is invite-only).
This guide will give you the low-down on the three major Slack updates, as well as recapping the other innovations that have happened this year.
Slack Canvas
Alongside a Slack channel you have a Canvas. Slack canvases are described as a “surface to capture and share knowledge [with] the ability to access and take action on Salesforce data directly in Slack”.
Similar to Quip? You’re right. Quip has been integrated with Slack, you could consider this an interactive board which pins key information for the channel, including:
- A permanent place to curate, organize, and share the most important resources related to the channel.
- Canvas comments have the same Slack thread functionality.
- Embed workflows that users can launch via buttons and forms.
- Pull in data from systems of record, including Salesforce Customer 360, Jira, Figma, etc.
While canvases initially have a 1-to-1 correlation with the Slack channel, you can link sub-canvases to help users navigate through the wealth of information that each dedicated canvas could hold.
All of the Slack integrations you enjoy now will be available with canvases today.
Use Cases for Slack Canvas
- New hire onboarding.
- Executive briefings.
- Marketing campaigns.
- Account updates.
- Incident reports.
How will you be using canvas?
Availability: Will be generally available in 2023.
Huddles Coworking
Huddles allow you to jump into quick conversations – an audio call from any channel or DM – getting things resolved and avoiding the hassle out of scheduling meetings. In fact, the median huddle length is 10 minutes – think how many 30-minute meetings that’s rescued people from!
Aiming to replicate in-person work collaboration, huddles are getting a makeover. Huddles Coworking includes:
- Video and screen share.
- Pop-out window.
- Reactions.
- Chat in thread and post-huddle threads.
Availability: Generally available today, following a successful pilot lasting several months.
New Slack Platform
A new set of developer tools and modular, reusable building blocks makes it faster and easier for you to create,
customize, and share workflows that automate work for your teams.
For the first time ever, the new developer experience will be introduced in an open beta, where any developer can get their hands on the technology sooner (vs a closed beta, which is invite-only).
Availability: In open beta today, get started now! Will be generally available in 2023.
Summary: Slack’s Accelerated Innovation
Slack is innovating by following three principles, and this is what has come to fruition, in 2022, so far:
1. Make what was hard in the office better:
- Asynchronous meetings.
- Clips.
- Workflow automations.
- Slack Connect.
2. Bring what we love from the office:
- Huddles (and Huddles Coworking).
3. Creating unique value for the digital HQ:
- Flow in Slack (clicks/low-code)
- Apex SDK for Slack (pro-code)
- Slack Apps for Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud.
