“We believe that whoever makes it easiest for teams to function with agility and cohesion in an ever more complex world will be the most important software company in the world. We aim to be that company,” states Slack CEO Steward Butterfield.
Slack’s recent IPO and impressive stock performance brings to light the significant growth potential in software companies that solve the continuously evolving problem of getting people to work well together while being highly interested in and enjoying the daily work experience. It’s a problem that every business in the world faces and all business leaders appreciate the value of an engaged workforce. They are more productive, are more creative, and service customers more effectively, which all leads to higher revenues and more profitability.
To date, over 600,000 organizations in over 150 countries use Slack for communicating and collaborating with fellow employees. And 10 million people in those organizations collectively spend more than 50 million hours actively using Slack in an average week. Those stats help put Slack’s potential as well as user demand in perspective.
While Slack serves a unique user need, the overall area of employee engagement can be broken out into categories. Good communication and high engagement are two attributes which are universally needed for productive work environments. Getting more specific, to produce these attributes we see that employee understanding, recognition and coaching are critical to improve overall employee performance.
With that in mind, Slack as well as other companies in the space could roll out new product features or whole new solutions that address the various facets driving employee engagement.
One such company is SAP, who purchased Qualtrics for its platform and survey capabilities that are used for customer experiences, as well as its modules for employees. It’s likely that SAP will combine SuccessFactors, CRM and its other software solutions with Qualtrics.
Another company that participates in the customer experience space is Dynamic Signal. It uses customized, highly tailored corporate communication tools to ensure alignment of culture and goals, which in turn lead to boosting productivity. Its customers include Salesforce, IBM, UPS and Wawa. Dynamic Signal also has survey capabilities and employee advocacy tools that make it easy for workers to share messages over social media.
While Slack has established a solid presence in the employee engagement market, it’s not without its competitors. However, Slack’s management team can take comfort in that in such a big arena there’s room for multiple formidable players to thrive.
