Use Slack to replace all your email and chat programs
August 03, 2016
Use Slack to replace all your email and chat programs
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Slack
Slack is used by our whole organization. Before Slack, we used email heavily, as well as Google chat and Skype. After switching to Slack, our organization has completely replaced Google chat and has mostly eliminated the need for internal emails. It has combined all internal communication to one easy-to-use location, while increasing transparency.
- Slack divides communication into "Channels", which can be either public or private. This is great way to discuss matters related to a department or a specific project. For example, we have a channel for "Technology", where we discuss our latest website updates. This allows the whole organization to see what's changing and being discussed. Anyone that's interested can join the channel and decide to enable or disable notifications (this is done on a by-channel basis).
- Slack also offer Direct Messages, which work the same as an instant messaging service. These messages are private.
- Slack can integrate with many different services and you can create integration-specific channels. For example, you can set up a Twitter integration and set up a channel that shows all recent tweets. The same goes for other integrations, such email marketing services (MailChimp), task management software (JIRA), etc.
- Slack allows the user to upload photos, documents, and screenshots to a channel or direct message with the click of a button. This is a useful way to share information without having to send an email.
- The video conferencing feature is lacking and not nearly as good as Skype. If your organization relies on video calls, Slack is not the best option.
- If you're not careful, you can be bombarded with Slack notifications (either on your computer or phone), so be sure to set your notification preferences on each channel you join.
- There is not a way to chat with Slack users from other organizations without inviting them to your team.
- Reduction in amount of emails received by around 75%
- Combined all communication services (3-4 unique) into just 1 (Slack)
- Huge increase in inter-organizational transparency across departments
- Skype and Google Hangouts
Slack is a more all-around complete platform than either Skype or Google Hangouts. Skype is better at video conferencing, but Slack is better for project management and archiving. Google Hangouts is simple and easy, but Slack offers way more features and is all very user-friendly. Slack can become the go-to service for all office communication and replace all other similar products.