Slack is a project management tool as well as a communication platform used by thousands and millions of people around the world. Slack generally is used to communicate amongst colleagues (internal communications) and this makes the platform one of the leaders in communication technology.
Brief background of Slack
Slack was developed by a company in 2009, Tiny Speck, the same company responsible for Flickr. It initially started as an internal communication tool in the U.S and Canada, but over time, it developed to include project management functions, sales and marketing, IT, and customer support.
A key benefit of using Slack is that it improves internal transparency and business culture. Teams using Slack recorded over a 30% boost in team productivity, a 45% reduction in the use of emails, and a 23% reduction in meetings. This goes to show how effective using Slack can be.
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What are the key features of Slack that make it effective?
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Slack allows the same or different project teams within an organization to have their workspaces. Through these workspaces, users can connect with online collaboration tools, share files and locate necessary documents for project planning.
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Slack allows users access to channels, where they can find people, tools, and information necessary to complete a work. It also allows for different channels to be created for different purposes.
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Slack has a thread feature that can be used to organize Slack discussions. It allows users to send direct messages and also to continue conversations without cluttering the main view of the conversation.
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Users can place voice calls to each other using the Slack in-calling feature available on the platform. Note that calling from a group direct message or channel will require you to sign up for a Slack plan first.
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Slack makes use of bots called Slackbots, which helps with notetaking and setting reminders. These Slackbots have different forms and types which can help users in certain specific ways.
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How best can I use Slack?
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Create just enough project-specific channels as needed and wanted by your teams. Doing this will help you bring together the correct people and correct information into the right channel. This saves you from sending team-wide emails which are only for specific people within those teams.
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Connect the platform to tools you already use. This saves you the time of having to get acquainted with new tools with the same function. For instance, you could connect your Slack platform to other tools like Zoom and Google Drive. Where there are no specific tools for you to use, you can build custom apps using the Slack API.
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Set up Slack reminders for meetings, reviews, approvals, etc. This helps you to track them better, otherwise, something could slip through the cracks. You could create reminders for yourself, come back to the message later, create a custom reminder, or use third-party apps like Google Calendar or Calendly to set these reminders.
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Manage your tasks by either integrating a task management app like Trello, using todo commands or pinning/saving messages.
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Collaborate by sharing files. Slack allows you to share files with other users who may then give their input or make final approvals on the files. You could share these files through Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive.
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If you haven’t been using Slack in your business, now is probably the best time to do so. Even though Slack is not fully a project management software system, it still has many benefits since it is a good tool for communication and collaboration.
Aside from Slack, you could also employ SMS in your business internal communications. You could even decide to employ them simultaneously to further strengthen the quality of internal communications. SmartSMSSolutions can help you do this by offering you the most affordable rates for SMS. Get started with us now!