When business folks talk about collaborative messaging, they are almost always talking about Slack. Slack is one of those apps and belongs in the same conversation. T’s often true with some apps - such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop - that the market penetration is so profound that no app could ever encroach on the space and hope to gain traction. Zoho Cliq is arguably just as feature rich and much more affordable, but lacks the extensibility with apps for just about any purpose in business. Flock and Glip are both worthwhile competitors that cost less but have not attracted nearly the same attention. However, it’s hard to name another team messaging app that’s as easy to use and powerful as Slack, one that has risen in the ranks in terms of business dominance. And, since Teams integrates more fully into the Office products and with Microsoft video and voice chat, it might be a better fit for those who absolutely must stay within the confines of the Microsoft app suite. However, Microsoft Teams does provide a more extensive feature set for some large companies, offering compliance and regulatory features that are more granular than Slack. The only competitor that has been able to make any inroads with users in terms of market share is Microsoft Teams, and that’s partly because it is included with Microsoft 365 and some companies like to keep all apps within their given ecosystem. This one-two punch of extensive features and extreme popularity have made Slack hard to beat. If there’s a CRM app or cloud storage service you use, there’s probably a Slack app. There’s an extensive collection of apps and bots, mostly because Slack itself is so popular. Bots in Slack can automatically assign tasks to users, run polls and calculate the results, and remind users about meetings. You can integrate Google Drive and Google Docs, and Trello so that the popular task management cards show up within channels, and you can integrate Slack with Microsoft Office. Slack offers around 2,000 apps, many of which extend the power of the app. Again, it’s easy to take these features for granted since so many people use the app, but the quick search function, workflow functions that automate routine tasks, the built-in storage, the ability to start a voice or video chat with a click, and the apps and bots make it quite powerful.
#Install slack in mobile install#
Some of the features in Slack that we take for granted - this easy install and setup process, plus the ability to add anyone within your company quickly - were ground-breaking when the app first launched way back in 2013.īeyond that, Slack offers a good balance between accessibility of basic features - you can expect users to start chatting and sharing files right away - and advanced functions. After another 10 minutes, you can add team members and start collaborating.
One of the most impressive features of this collaborative messaging platform is that anyone can sign-up for an account and become an admin in minutes, establishing their own domain (such as ). These interface elements seem commonplace now, but back in 2013 they were quite novel. Within Slack, if you use a hashtag for a channel (like #mychannel) then users can quickly click it to go to that channel. As far as team messaging, the first time many users ever tagged someone in an app like this was probably in Slack. They seem tailor-made for Slack.Īlthough Slack might not have introduced the mention or the hashtag, it does make frequent use of them in the interface. Some users might not even realize that there is plenty of power under the hood and an extensive array of apps and bots you can add to the interface. While Microsoft Teams chugs along at times under the weight of its many enterprise-grade features, Slack is light and airy by comparison. (Note that the purple and white interface is associated with Slack so much that changing these colors can throw people off.)
The clean interface is easily recognizable - it uses dark purple and white/gray colors, although you can customize the appearance. The app avoids the word “chat” and borrows a term from Twitter with “direct messages” instead, which automatically implies privacy. While some team messaging apps don’t know when to use the word “chat” versus “channel,” it is always clear in Slack. Below that, you see direct messaging chats which can be 1-on-1 or in small groups.
#Install slack in mobile series#
At the top left of the screen, you see a series of default channels for collaborating in groups.
#Install slack in mobile how to#
It is almost effortless in the sense that you intuitively know how to use it. (Image credit: Slack) Interface and performance
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