At its TrailblazerDX developer conference, Salesforce unveiled the Salesforce Platform for Slack. It includes an Apex SDK for app-building and connections to the company's Flow low-code platform to enable simple automations in Slack. Credit: Salesforce Salesforce today announced a new toolkit for its developers to build integrations and customize apps on Slack’s collaboration platform. Salesforce acquired Slack last year for $27.7 billion and has begun to integrate the team messaging app into its portfolio of Software-as-a-Service tools — aiming to create what it calls the “digital HQ.” The Salesforce Platform for Slack, announced at the TrailblazerDX developer conference, is aimed at simplifying processes for Salesforce’s 11 million developers when connecting workflows between Customer360 apps and Slack. “Salesforce’s primary justification for buying Slack is to leverage Slack as the collaboration layer across Salesforce clouds,” said Irwin Lazar, president and principal analyst at research and advisory firm Metrigy. “That requires tight integrations to ensure data flow in and out of Slack, and the ability to both collaborate on, and carry out tasks within Slack. So it’s critical that Salesforce rapidly enable developers to integrate into Slack.” Metrigy’s Workplace Collaboration: 2021-22 survey indicated that almost 60% of end user organizations viewed apps like Slack as a hub for work, rather than purely a messaging app. With the Apex SDK for Slack, Salesforce developers can use the familiar Apex programming language to customize Slack apps built using the Block Kit UI framework (created four years ago to embed interactive components such as checkboxes and menus in Slack messages). The Apex SDK allows access to data in Salesforce, such as customer records, without the need for middleware. “Let’s say a developer already has a great application built in Apex — they can now bring that super-easily to Slack,” said Slack Chief Product Officer Tamar Yehoshua in a pre-announcement briefing. Salesforce is also connecting its Flow low-code platform to Slack. This should enable the automation of simple manual tasks, such as creating a new Slack channel or sending an account status update. “Let’s say a deal status changes and you want to collaborate on that deal in a deal room in Slack. All you do is connect it through Salesforce Flow to automatically create a channel,” said Yehoshua. “Slack’s deeper integrations to the Salesforce platform effectively streamlines communications and collaboration by eliminating the need to switch between applications,” said Wayne Kurtzman, research director at IDC. “This brings conversations around work into the work — keeping the context needed to make decisions.” Flow in Slack is expected to be available as a beta in June and in final release in October. The Apex SDK for Slack is set for a pilot in June, with general availability in February 2023. At TrailblazerDX Salesforce also announced the public beta of several integrations between Slack and Salesforce’s Sales, Service and Marketing Cloud products that were announced last year. Related content news Strict return-to-work policies may be driving tech workers away In-office mandates aren’t great for employee retention, according to a university study that gathered data from workers at Microsoft, Apple and SpaceX. By Jon Gold May 09, 2024 3 mins Remote Work opinion Apple's worst ad ever? For a marketing company that doubles as a tech company, Apple's latest iPad Pro is incredibly tone-deaf. By Steven Vaughan-Nichols May 09, 2024 5 mins Apple Marketing and Advertising Industry iPad opinion Apple's M4 chip really does compete with itself Just a few months after the last big leap forward, Apple leapt ahead again. By Jonny Evans May 09, 2024 5 mins Apple CPUs and Processors iPad news OpenAI unveils ‘Model Spec’: A framework for shaping responsible AI This first-of-its-kind document outlines the principles guiding model behavior in its API and ChatGPT, OpenAI announced in a blog post. By Gyana Swain May 09, 2024 4 mins Technology Industry Emerging Technology Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe