Bulletins

Salesforce and Slack execs outline their goals for the $27.7 billion deal

Here's what they said at Salesforce's annual investor day.

Salesforce logo

Salesforce recently spent $27.7 billion to purchase Slack.

Photo: Stephen Lam/Getty Images

Top Salesforce and Slack executives have laid out their vision for how to integrate the two companies following last week's much-publicized $27.7 billion acquisition.

The discussion took place on Tuesday at Salesforce's annual investor day and included remarks from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Chief Operating Officer Bret Taylor and Chief Revenue Officer Gavin Patterson, as well as Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield.

According to research from analysts at RBC Capital Markets, highlights of the pending merger discussed by the execs include:

    • The ability for Salesforce customers to input data in their customer relationship management software directly from Slack.
    • A more robust version of Slack Connect, which allows users to talk to people outside their immediate company. Contracts, for example, can be signed and shared by connecting Slack Connect and DocuSign. This idea signals ambitions for Slack to become a platform used in virtual business negotiations.
    • While Salesforce previously acquired workplace productivity startups Quip and Chatter, the company intends to have Slack serve "as the future center point of the communication/collaboration offerings," per the analysts.
    • As companies increasingly look to digitize their customer service function, the execs argued that Slack could serve as the conversational platform for those call centers.
    • From a sales perspective, executives say Slack will benefit from Salesforce's robust network of enterprise connections, while Slack's "self-serve" sales model could help in "re-strengthening the virality of the Salesforce platform," per the analysts.
    • Combining the capabilities of MuleSoft (which Salesforce purchased in 2018 for $6.5 billion) and Slack, Benioff sees Salesforce becoming the "single source of truth for customers." MuleSoft provides APIs, the tool used to connect applications to one another, while Slack will serve as the platform to connect people.
    Joe Williams

    Joe Williams is a writer-at-large at Protocol. He previously covered enterprise software for Protocol, Bloomberg and Business Insider. Joe can be reached at JoeWilliams@Protocol.com. To share information confidentially, he can also be contacted on a non-work device via Signal (+1-309-265-6120) or JPW53189@protonmail.com.

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