• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

College-educated women are snapping up the highest-earning men without college degrees, leaving the rest further behind

2

An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948

3

The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'

1

College-educated women are snapping up the highest-earning men without college degrees, leaving the rest further behind

2

An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948

3

The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
TechSlack

What Slack Is Doing to Connect With More Businesses

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 22, 2018, 12:30 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Slack is taking another step to be the de-facto way for employees to communicate with each other.

The business chat service debuted on Tuesday a feature that lets corporate apps built to work with Slack capable of doing more tasks within Slack. The goal is to reduce the need of users to constantly open multiple corporate apps during work and instead conduct much of their work through Slack.

For instance, customers that use workplace software company Asana’s tools to manage their projects can now create and assign tasks inside Slack without having to open the actual Asana project management app.

Slack is unveiling the new feature with a handful of workplace software partners like Asana, Atlassian, and Zendesk, along with marketing technology company Hubspot. All of these companies have used the feature, called “actions,” to more deeply incorporate some of their software tools into Slack’s chat app.

Bradley Armstrong, Slack’s head of business partnerships, explained during a press briefing that one way Slack intends to grow its business is by making its chat app more compatible with other workplace software tools. If more third-party corporate apps hook into Slack, “the more powerful Slack becomes,” Armstrong said.

Slack chief product officer April Underwood said that Slack has no intention of creating certain services, like software to track sales leads. The company does not want to build services that are not central to its core workplace messaging technology.

But, the more that companies integrate their workplace tools within Slack, the company gains additional features that it didn’t have to spend money and resources building itself.

Still, companies like Atlassian and Asana that integrate deeply with Slack, risk becoming merely “features” of Slack if their users decide to only use their services within Slack as opposed to their own respective apps. Underwood disagreed with that notion and said that the new actions tool isn’t intended to downplay the importance of other company’s workplace software tools.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

She said that the tool is intended to allow for “short, bite-sized tasks” and is not intended to replace the need to open other business apps. For instance, while a manager can approve an employee expense report within Slack, human resource staff will still need to access the actual expense software app for more in-depth information that is unavailable within Slack.

Although Slack is growing quickly, it’s still a baby when compared to larger competitors like Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) that can afford to spend lots of money building and selling multiple workplace tools.

Slack is trying to court more companies and developers to improve its basic chat app with more functions to better compete against larger rivals that sell a wider variety of workplace tools.

In the case that a company like Atlassian or Zendesk gets acquired by a larger company, Underwood said that wouldn’t impact the integrations these companies made with Slack. Even if one of these companies were to be acquired by Microsoft or a similar corporate giant, Underwood believes that these larger companies understand the need for competing tools to work with each other, because that’s what customers demand.

“This is the way that the world is going,” Underwood said. “Companies want to be able to choose tools, they want great tools for every job they need to do, and they want those tools to work together.”

“No matter what the geopolitical landscape is of the tech industry, that is where things are going,” she added.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

Dario Amodei looking to the side.
AIAnthropic
A trove of users’ seemingly private conversations with Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot showed up in Google search results
By Beatrice NolanJuly 27, 2026
3 hours ago
The war between competing AI models could end up more like Apple vs. Android than VHS vs. Betamax
AITech
The war between competing AI models could end up more like Apple vs. Android than VHS vs. Betamax
By Jason MaJuly 27, 2026
4 hours ago
Workers help a traveler at a Trip.com tabling session booth.
Big TechChina
Trip.com struck with $765 million penalty from China over monopoly allegations
By The Associated PressJuly 27, 2026
5 hours ago
Canadian intern at NATO’s military headquarters arrested on espionage charges
North AmericaNATO
Canadian intern at NATO’s military headquarters arrested on espionage charges
By Sam McNeil and The Associated PressJuly 27, 2026
6 hours ago
econ
AsiaChina
A Chinese chip maker’s shares surged 466% in their first day of trading as AI boom worm turns
By Chan Ho-Him and The Associated PressJuly 27, 2026
7 hours ago
canada
EconomyTariffs
Canada’s awkward tariff summer: Gordie Howe Bridge opens for traffic a week after Michigan and White House officials got uninvited
By The Associated PressJuly 27, 2026
8 hours ago

Most Popular

College-educated women are snapping up the highest-earning men without college degrees, leaving the rest further behind
Economy
College-educated women are snapping up the highest-earning men without college degrees, leaving the rest further behind
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 26, 2026
1 day ago
An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948
Success
An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 25, 2026
2 days ago
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
Real Estate
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 25, 2026
2 days ago
New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers
Retail
New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers
By Sarah GlodekJuly 27, 2026
13 hours ago
I've been teaching college students for decades. Most of them can no longer finish a book
Commentary
I've been teaching college students for decades. Most of them can no longer finish a book
By Austin SaratJuly 26, 2026
1 day ago
The Pete behind Jersey Mike’s was only 17 years old when he borrowed $125,000 to buy the chain—with some help from his high school football coach
Success
The Pete behind Jersey Mike’s was only 17 years old when he borrowed $125,000 to buy the chain—with some help from his high school football coach
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 26, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.