Salesforce is reportedly in talks with Slack to acquire the company for $17 billion
Salesforce is in talks to acquire the popular messaging app, Slack, accordingOpens a new window to the Wall Street Journal. The CRM giant is reportedly closing the $17 billion deal over the Thanksgiving weekend. In response to the news, Slack’s stock has soared while Salesforce’s has dipped.
BREAKING: Salesforce has recently been in talks to buy Slack Technologies, Dow Jones reports.$WORKOpens a new window halted for volatility after spiking 7%. pic.twitter.com/TfzV9tBzAWOpens a new window
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) November 25, 2020Opens a new window
It is interesting that the news comes when the world is grappling with the second wave of COVID-19. Slack’s lackluster performance during the pandemic had investors and experts worried that it might concede too much ground to products like Microsoft’s Teams and Zoom. In fact, video conferencing tools have significantly impacted collaboration behaviors across the globe, and Slack might have missed the train. Slack just does not lend itself to overnight adoption like some of its competitors do.
However, on the flipside, Slack has been a collaboration staple for millions of teams across the globe. There are loyalists that swear by the messaging app. In fact, experts believe that Slack’s long-term game plan is to emerge as a substitute for emails instead of video conferencing apps.
Will Slack Help Salesforce Achieve Its Virtual Ambitions?
Salesforce witnessed a massive shift in its customer-base as in-person sales went online. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as salespeople realized that they could do a lot more virtually – schedule more meetings in a day and close more deals – all from the comfort of their homes. Meanwhile, sales associates from closed retail stores joined the ranks of the new digital sales teams and brought new skills along with them.
Salesforce’s recent push to virtual sales optimization brought many new products to the fore, including real-time team chat, notifications, comments, and video conferencing directly into the CRM workflow. The addition of Salesforce Meetings to its CRM suite also helped customers streamline their virtual sales and transition to the virtual world of sales.
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New efficiencies that were revealed after sales went virtual means that there is no going back to the older ways of selling, even after social distancing guidelines are lifted. In-person meetings will stage a comeback, but they will no longer be the norm.
So, this brings up to Salesforce’s interest in Snapchat. Is it really about building a more collaborative sales environment? We think it is. 2020 has been a year marked by the convergence of new channels and technologies. The lines between sales and service are also becoming increasingly blurred. Customers expect brands to engage with them on the channel of their choice – and this also transcends to the world of B2B commerce. With Salesforce’s existing communication capabilities, it is difficult for sales to breach the boundaries of their organization – it is difficult getting external customers and clients on Chatter, Quip, or Anywhere. Slack’s Channels capability proves particularly useful as users can add single-channel guests (outside their organization) to get the conversation going.
Salesforce buying Slack makes a lot of sense for both companies.
— Andrew Yang🧢🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) November 26, 2020Opens a new window
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This use-case is perhaps something that has caught Salesforce’s eye – and its very practical applications could position Salesforce to level up to Microsoft’s capabilities in a virtual, collaborative future. It’ll be interesting to note how Salesforce integrates Slack into its CRM suite if the acquisition takes place this year.