Slack: Slacking? More like social networking

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When COVID hit and the lock-downs started, everyone was expecting Slack to "Zoom"; however, as the chart below from Chartr clearly shows, Slack disappointed. 

It's not due to lack of trying

In "Slack got smacked", I discussed why Slack is NOT slacking on growth and how Slack and Zoom differ. As discussed in Slack to Microsoft Teams: "Damn You!" what's limiting Slack and slowing its growth is Microsoft Teams. Teams has reduced Slack’s addressable market and Slack will not come near the heights its investors envisioned when it went public. However, in that same post, I also mentioned that I'm still bullish on Slack. 

But, given Google's announcement earlier this week to revamp its G Suite and relaunch it as Google WorkSpace, does my position change? As if competing with Microsoft wasn't hard enough, right?

Although Google WorkSpace includes features that will compete with Slack and Microsoft Teams, I'm still bullish on Slack and its future prospects because Slack is going to be the social network of enterprises.  This is because of Slack Connect (Shared Channels). 

Over the past few years, Slack has not only made its chat client better but it also expanded who you can use it to chat with. Last year, Slack introduced Slack Connect (Shared Channels) - a feature that allows Slack to connect different enterprises to each other to chat. Unlike Teams, and Google WorkSpace for that matter, Slack is not deeply integrated with a bunch of other applications, so it is easier for Slack to connect different enterprises. For different enterprises, the point is connecting, not integrating with other apps which vary from one enterprise to the other. Even if Google and Microsoft introduced features to connect enterprises to each other, the user experience of chatting in Slack will always be better. This is because Slack is focused on one thing - "chatting" - whereas Teams and WorkSpace come integrated with a boatload of other apps. 

Bottom line: Slack is focused on one specific functionality - chatting. The more companies that take advantage of Slack Connect, the deeper Slack's moat becomes. That’s the thing about social networks: their best feature is whether or not your friends (other enterprises in this case) are on it.

In my opinion, Google WorkSpace is competing with with Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft's plans to build the cloud OS. Many enterprises will commit to Google's Apps or Microsoft Office 365 but when they want to "talk" to each other, they will "Slack" each other. As the social media outlet for enterprises, Slack is here to stay. 

Disclaimer: This post is merely my own assessment and is not an investment recommendation. For professional advice, seek input from a licensed investment advisor.

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