Salesforce is further embracing the automation trend with recently announced features in Slack that make it easier for users to create roles regardless of their level of technical expertise.
According to a press release dated August 26:
- Slack users can now create a workflow that automatically starts when an event occurs in a third-party app like PagerDuty, Asana, or BitBucket.
- Customers building workflows in Slack can access over 50 new plug-and-play templates for common productivity use cases.
- Developers have access to more coding languages and tools, so they can create custom workflows and share them with their teams.
“As Slack continues to become the destination for getting work done, we'll continue to make it as simple as possible for users to create automated workflows and take productivity into their own hands,” said Rob Seaman, Slack's chief product officer, in a public statement.
The news comes after Slack launched its generative AI assistance tool earlier this year.
A deeper dive into the features
Slack’s no-code automation tool Workflow Builder enables users to automate their most important processes and tasks within the platform without increasing IT workloads.
Previously, an action performed in Slack and Salesforce was the only way to start a Slack workflow. These new features allow users to automatically start an action in a third-party app directly in Slack.
For example, if an organization experiences a critical service outage, a user can log a ticket in PagerDuty. This will initiate a workflow in Slack and create an incident channel, add team members, set up a canvas, and share all relevant PagerDuty information, Salesforce said. Team members will receive the context they need to efficiently resolve the issue in their workflow.
Another new feature is the ability to easily create workflows in Workflow Builder with a plug-and-play design and access to over 50 new pre-built templates. This is intended to enable users to quickly create automation processes for common business tasks, which could include starting a project, collecting survey data, and creating IT tickets.
Additionally, new tools in Slack’s developer platform aim to make it easier to customize workflows. When users need to build a specialized workflow, they can use Slack’s open APIs and developer tools to create custom steps.
New features allow developers to:
- Create and manage custom steps on the Slack app settings page in an intuitive user experience.
- Augment existing custom Slack apps with a custom step for use in Workflow Builder, allowing end users to connect Slack apps to time-saving workflows.
- Access more programming languages to develop these custom steps, including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, and Java.
Workflow Builder improvements are now available to all Slack customers, Salesforce said.
Employers demand higher productivity
No-code development platforms have gained popularity in software development because they allow non-IT personnel to create applications without having to know how to code.
Low-code tools, which require some basic coding skills, are also gaining momentum in the enterprise. Gartner predicts that developers outside of formal IT departments will account for at least 80% of the user base for low-code development tools by 2026, up from 60% in 2021.
According to a 2023 Slack report, 71% of business leaders are under pressure from management to drive teams to be more productive as a result of these no-code and low-code platforms, but a similar 70% of IT leaders are concerned that increasing business demands will stifle innovation.
Additionally, 77% of users say their productivity would be greatly improved if they could automate routine tasks. No-code, easy-to-use automation is becoming an essential tool that businesses need to achieve this goal and increase productivity without having to burden the IT department, Salesforce said.
Slack's new features aim to give developers and end users the tools they need to easily automate any business process in their work apps, right where they're already working, Seaman said.
One of Slack’s product principles is “don’t make me think,” Seaman said. “We’re applying that to the historically technical and time-consuming area of automation to make it an intuitive and enjoyable productivity driver for everyone.”
