Since its inception, Slack has allowed people within the same organization to easily communicate. It beats the tar out of email here. People who work at different companies could use shared channels. 

In case you missed it, Slack announced a rebranded version of shared channels yesterday: Slack Connect.

Check out the video below:

Also expect other companies—ahem, Microsoft—to ape Slack’s functionality here or at least try.

Long before I began writing the manuscript for Slack For Dummies, Slack had allowed two organizations to share the same channel—although I knew that that number would increase.¹ It is now 20. (Fun fact: I include a sidebar in the book on how a university would use a souped-up version of shared channels for research purposes. I didn’t know, however, that Slack would rebrand the feature as Slack Connect.)

As the video above describes, little things like scheduling appointments among people in different organizations become much easier. (Sure, Doodle is a nice stopgap, but the tool requires people to actively use it.) Slack Connect uses artificial intelligence to scan calendars and book convenient times.

Simon Says

As I write in the book, expect the company’s use of AI to grow. It’s not hard to imagine a slew of different features for Slack Connect. Also expect other companies—ahem, Microsoft—to ape Slack’s functionality here or at least try.