Work-related communication has increased exponentially as technology has evolved in the workplace: email, chat, phone calls and in-person meetings, both formal and otherwise (say, in the hallway).
In a pre-Covid world, communication broke down when employees who were not part of the email chain, phone call or meeting would miss out when the information was shared or the decisions were made.
Interestingly, despite the explosion of digitalisation in the workplace brought forward by the pandemic-induced transition to remote and hybrid work, these silos persist. In some cases, the problem has been exacerbated due to the increase in the number of employees working from different locations and time zones, or working different office hours.
Needless to say, this can negatively impact productivity and efficiency at work.
The recent Slack State of Work 2023 study found that 41 percent of employees in Singapore find coordination and collaboration with other teams to be a key challenge.
This is particularly a problem as many Singaporeans now work with colleagues across different time zones or with different working arrangements to their own.
A Slack report from late 2022 titled Leadership and the war for talent also found that nearly a third (28 percent) of Singaporean respondents felt that it took too long to find information internally and that internal processes took up too much of their day.
A similar number (32 percent) also found that communicating across the company, within big teams and across time zones, was slow due to delayed responses.
This is why it has become crucially important for companies to identify ways to remove communication silos and ensure easy access, flow and relay of information across their organisation.
Uniting the workforce
Slack unites a workforce so that it can be at its most productive, regardless of where individual employees are situated. Slack channels help teams to share information and files in a centralised space; cut through the clutter when seeking information; and save time otherwise spent fishing through multiple files or documents.
Channels, huddles, automated workflows and AI-powered search, available on the Slack platform, help to break barriers to information flow and ensure clear communication – creating a workplace without silos.
The platform allows distributed teams to work together in real-time and asynchronously. It is possible to get on a Slack Huddle with a teammate across the country, and then leave an update in a Slack Clip for someone in another region to consume on their own time.
Beyond that, with over 2,600 app integrations available on Slack, teams can reduce context switching and do all of their essential work right within the platform, no matter where they are.
Workflow Builder allows employees, even those with no coding/technical skills, to build automated processes with drag-and-drop simplicity that allows teams to be more creative, precise and effective throughout the workday.
Over the past year, we have heard and seen the power of AI in improving efficiency and productivity at work. Slack AI, which will land in early 2024, will empower employees with AI-generated summaries of conversations and huddles, so they can jump straight into work.
Slack AI will also help with information gathering. With AI-powered search answers, users can ask a question and get a clear, concise answer based on relevant Slack messages. For example, when learning about a new project, search answers can help users quickly get a grasp on the project’s goal, the key stakeholders involved and more.
Dedicated spaces
Slack organises conversations into dedicated spaces called channels. Channels bring order and clarity to work – you can create them for any project, topic or team – with your colleagues, external partners, or customers. With the right people and information in one place, teams can share ideas, make decisions and move work forward.
Within a channel, employees can discuss projects, share ideas and results, collaborate through huddles, and ensure all documents are in a single space. Teams can also use canvases, which help to organise, curate, collaborate and share information. Employees can create a canvas for anything they are working on – meeting notes, projects or checklists – and then share it in the appropriate Slack channel to collaborate with colleagues.
For teams working in different time zones, employees can also share clips – short audio or video recordings of themselves – with updates, announcements or explanations, so the rest of the team can view it at a time that suits them best.
Slack-first culture
A good example of how companies are using Slack channels to improve productivity is PolicyPal.
Teams in the company use a Slack-first culture to break down silos by sharing announcements and facilitating work in Slack channels.
The marketing team has a dedicated Slack channel for their marketing campaign leads. Every time there’s a conversion or lead, it is fed into the Slack channel so that the operations team is aware and can quickly help, prioritise and follow up with the right customers.
Onboarding of new employees is also orchestrated using channels, and employees can use the search function to get up to speed. New hires are added to the relevant channels to catch up on previous messages and get historical context, as well as receive a warm welcome from their new colleagues.
When additional or urgent collaboration is required, PolicyPal uses Slack Huddles to ensure their hybrid workforce has a platform for any unplanned, informal discussions.
Slack Connect has also played a crucial role in ensuring clear communication and transition amidst PolicyPal’s acquisition. With the acquired company based in the United States, PolicyPal was able to leverage Slack Connect to replace email and extend channel-based messaging to increase visibility and alignment for everyone across different time zones. By facilitating everything in Slack, PolicyPal was able to complete the entire acquisition in less than a month.
Salesforce integrations
There are over 40 native Salesforce and Slack integrations purpose-built for all of the Salesforce Clouds, with the most popular ones being for Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud.
As an example of these integrations, Sales Cloud brings information into Slack, making it easier for sales representatives to edit and update opportunities, accounts, contacts and leads through Slack – saving time, breaking down information silos, and ensuring everyone can find information easily.
Email chains can also be moved into channels, to ensure that stakeholders, on dedicated accounts, can stay aligned. As customer relationships and deals progress, the app automatically notifies the team of updates made to records, whether from Sales Cloud or Slack, keeping everyone up to speed.
The same works across Marketing Cloud or Service Cloud, ensuring employees have valuable data, business processes and cross-functional partners right at their fingertips, in one single layer of engagement.
Slack is a powerful platform empowering organisations and teams of all sizes to be at their most productive, irrespective of their location. The scalability of the platform makes it the go-to collaboration tool for tasks ranging from team communication to large, complex digital transformation projects.