Breaking News: Salesforce Supercharges Slack With AI Enhancements

Slack GPT was first announced back in May at the New York World Tour. But since then, we’ve heard very little else about it. There have been announcements around the new Slack UI and Slack Sales Elevate, but nothing around Slack GPT. Until now!

Today, Salesforce has announced Slack AI, automation, and Slack lists. I’ll now dive into exactly what these changes mean.

Slack AI

Slack incorporates AI features in its conversational interface to enhance productivity and save time for users. These features include:

Channel Recaps

These provide quick summaries of any channel’s activity, allowing users to focus on important information. The recaps can also assist in drafting status reports or extracting key themes from discussions.

Thread Summaries

With a single click, users can get a summary of any thread, making it easier to catch up on lengthy discussions or ongoing team conversations.

Search Answers

This feature leverages AI to provide not just search results but also AI-generated summaries when users ask a question. This helps users to quickly find information, locate internal experts, or understand team processes.

All of these features are built on Slack’s secure and compliant platform, ensuring customer data is not shared with third parties or used for model training.

Slack AI will begin pilots this Winter.

Automation

Slack’s automation features aim to streamline work processes and save time through the Workflow Builder. This tool allows users to automate tasks without coding, integrating various third-party tools like Google, Atlassian, and Asana with just a few clicks. It also offers Salesforce Flow integration, providing an IT-approved method for customizing Slack workflows.

Developers can build custom apps that are hosted directly in Slack, making it easier to integrate internal systems and implement advanced business logic. Slack handles the hosting and data security, and these custom apps can also be integrated into Workflow Builder for broader user access.

Additionally, Slack offers a dedicated hub for automation, where customers can easily find and access recently used workflows, start new ones from templates, and explore what other teams in their organization are using. Workflows can be copied and customized, facilitating the sharing of automation strategies across teams.

The new Workflow Builder is generally available now on paid plans, with automation hub launching later this month.

Slack Lists

Slack allows customers to efficiently handle various work tasks directly within their communication platform.

Track Projects

Tracking projects like new product development or marketing campaigns by assigning owners, updating statuses, and discussing details in a centralized location. Each project has a dedicated thread for team discussions.

Manage Product Launches

Managing product launches by tracking dependencies and monitoring progress can now be done all within Slack. Teammates will get instant notifications for quick and easy collaboration.

Handle Approvals

Handling approvals and requests using Workflow Builder allow incoming requests to be assigned, discussed, and closed out seamlessly.

This integrated approach streamlines work management and enhances team collaboration by keeping all activities within the flow of communication.

Slack lists will begin pilots this Winter, and be generally available next year.

Summary

The timing of this announcement is interesting, coming just six days before Dreamforce 2023. While this could be because it isn’t seen as important as some of the other announcements we can expect to hear about at Dreamforce. It’s more likely because Dreamforce promises so much news and Salesforce didn’t want this one to get lost in the noise. Either way, these are definitely some exciting features that will enhance people’s experience of using Slack.