What is Slack Actions and How Can It Help Your Business?

The integration of apps within Slack are becoming more intuitive thanks to the new tool it just launched called Actions. Any Slack message can now be turned into a follow-up or next step using Jira, Bitbucket, Asana, Zendesk, HubSpot, and more without leaving Slack.

Introducing Slack Actions

The goal for Slack is to be a hub for the way people within an organization connect, communicate and transfer work-related content. Actions will give developers and the more than 1,500 applications, bots and workplace services within the Slack App Directory the opportunity to improve their functionality by connecting users even more.

For the many small businesses who have integrated Slack into their workflow, doing more within the app means being more efficient. And because the workforce of even one single company can come from different parts of the world, everyone is looking for a comprehensive solution.

Slack Platform general manager Brian Elliott explained the need to address this very point. Elliott told VentureBeat, “The world has changed dramatically. Users have choice in the enterprise space as well, and they’ll vote with their actions in terms of what they want, so what we’re building is the ability for these systems to interoperate with each other because it’s what the user wants.”

Interoperability

On the official Slack blog, the company shares examples of this interoperability with other apps.

Specifically, interoperability with project management platform Asana lets your team receive Asana updates, take action on those updates and even translate Slack messages into tasks or comments in Asana. So you can create Asana tasks and add details like due date, project specifics and the person responsible for completion. You can also leave comments that stay attached to each task and all of this can be done without leaving Slack.

Integration with inbound marketing and sales platform HubSpot gives you the ability to use Slack messages to create tasks in HubSpot and connect them with a specific company, contact or deal. The company says this integration increases the collaboration possible within sales teams to help close sales.

Finally, interoperability with customer service platform Zendesk lets your team get notifications of new or updated Zendesk tasks through your Slack channels. You can also use a Slack comment to create a new Zendesk ticket or add a Slack comment to an existing ticket. As you can imagine, this makes it easier for your team to monitor and respond to tickets while still in Slack.

By improving how each of these apps functions within the Slack ecosystem, users are more aware of the conversations they are having with each other. And with everyone on the same page, misunderstandings are eliminated and issues get resolved in a timely manner.

What is Slack?

Slack is a cloud-based collaboration software suite that has evolved by leaps and bounds beyond its humble messaging beginnings. It now has more than 8 million daily users, 3 million of whom are paying customers.

Strategic partnerships with companies such as Google, Workday, SAP, Salesforce, Oracle, and many others have made it a tool for small companies and large enterprises alike.

Image: Slack

This article, "What is Slack Actions and How Can It Help Your Business?" was first published on Small Business Trends