By Jim Lundy
Dreamforce 2023: Salesforce Announces Slack AI
At Dreamforce 2023 ( #DF23) Salesforce announced Einstein CoPilot – which looks to be their flagship offering. However, they still need revenue from Slack – so they are also announcing Slack AI.
Slack AI – Is Automation and Lists Enough?
Slack AI is looking like it will help to automate summaries of what has been said. It can also create lists. The key capabilities announced include:
- Channel ReCaps – This is summarizing highlights of discussions in a Channel.
- Thread Summaries – It should be valuable – but our question is how often will this capability be used.
- Search Answers – This looks to be a valuable feature – and is what we call Conversational Search – essentially a major update of search capabilities – leveraging Generative AI.
- Slack Lists – Automation and Becoming a Digital Work Hub
Slack Lists are the umbrella term for a number of capabilities including:
- Project Management
- Manage Product Launches
- Review Approvals and Requests
All of these features make the new Slack more of a Digital Work Hub and that is where others such as Microsoft Viva are headed. The question we have – is where to do the work in Salesforce.
Slack AI vs. Einstein CoPilot
The question we have – is which offering will people use – Salesforce Einstein CoPilot or Slack AI. The answer may be both, but we are kind of wondering if Slack – as a Digital Work Hub – has been losing ground to Microsoft Teams – which is also marketed now as Microsoft Viva.
For enterprises that are Slack Shops, all of these features will be well received. For those who are not, we expect that Einstein GPT may become the way people get their work done.
CoPilots – The Changing Interface into Applications
What Salesforce and others have realized is that Generative AI-based apps are a new interface – a conversational one that can allow users to “talk to” applications – whether it be via Prompts today or full Natural Language in the very near future.
This change is foundational and while the applications today are not tuned, the promise of crisper conversations and better and faster answers from CoPilots is where this is headed. This is a new race in Enterprise Software – and Salesforce is in the game.
Bottom Line
Slack is still being integrated into the Salesforce storyline. Last year, Slack was front and center at Dreamforce. This year it is all about Einstein CoPilot. While Slack has a very loyal following from its install base, the growth of other offerings, including Microsoft Teams Google Chat, and WhatsApp – has put Slack on notice. The question is, “Does Salesforce care or is Slack just part of the revenue engine called Salesforce?”
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This blog is a part of the Digital Workplace blog series by Aragon Research’s CEO, Jim Lundy.
