In a recent Slack update, the company released additional functionality for Sales Cloud and introduced Service Cloud compatibility. The update concerns Slack’s Salesforce app, which allows users to surface Salesforce data within the Slack chat window. With just a few simple commands, sales and service reps can preview accounts, opportunities, and cases, all without leaving Slack.
What Is Slack?
Slack is an instant messaging platform that allows for real-time communication within an organization or workspace. Users can engage in direct messaging, group messaging, and even open private “channels” for team collaboration. As a corporate tool, Slack integrates with many third-party services such as Google Drive, Trello, Dropbox, GitHub, and Salesforce. It also supports community-built integrations and provides an API for custom solutions.
Integration Use Cases
Connecting Slack with Salesforce ultimately saves your sales and service teams time and clicks by allowing for easy access to information. Within each system, you can view data from the opposing system with a few simple steps.
Within Slack, you can:
- Perform a Salesforce search – By typing /salesforce [SearchTerm], you will receive your answer in the form of a list of objects showing how many matches per object your search returned. If you click on an object, you will be able to see each returned record, and by clicking into the record, you will see a summary of key information right in Slack. You can also click further to open up the record within Salesforce itself.
- Search for a Case – By typing /salesforce [CaseNumber], you can find a case in Service Cloud. You can view basic information in Slack or click deeper to open the case in Salesforce itself.
- Attach a Slack message to a Salesforce record – By clicking on the “…” next to any Slack message, you can then select Add to Salesforce. This will create a popup that allows you to type in the record where you want to attach the message. Click Add and Slack will add the message to the record’s feed under a subtitle “Related Slack Messages.”
Additionally, within Salesforce, you can:
- Send Case data to Slack – By navigating to a Case and selecting Send to Slack, you can send a Case summary to a channel or person.
- Set up a Slack Alert – By navigating to a record or object and clicking Slack Alerts, you can toggle the available alerts to show you when actions occur such as a case status changing or a call being logged.
For a full tutorial on using this integration, check out the Salesforce for Slack documentation.
Integrating Salesforce With Slack
Integrating Salesforce with Slack is extremely easy:
- Click on the Apps tab and search for “Salesforce”
- Select Install and then Add to Slack two times
- Click Allow to give Salesforce access to your Slack instance
Integrating Slack With Salesforce
After integrating Salesforce with Slack, you can also integrate Slack with Salesforce:
- Navigate to the AppExchange and find the free Slack app
- Follow the prompts to install this app
- Click on the app menu within Salesforce and search for “Slack.” Click on Slack Setup
- Follow the setup wizard to authorize the connection between Salesforce and Slack and configure the different buttons and components you wish to use within Salesforce
- Start exploring the possibilities!
In addition to this out-of-the-box integration, you can build custom integrations to allow for more functionality. Stay tuned for a future article about a custom Slack to Salesforce integration that the Ntegro team has been working on!
Need Some Help With An Integration?
Do you need help making that connection between Slack and Salesforce? Whether you are interested in integrating Slack with Salesforce or any other application, Ntegro is here for you! We can even help with a custom integration if you are using a system that is not included on the AppExchange. Get in touch with us online for a free consultation to get started!
Do you use Slack? How has your workforce become more efficient since incorporating Slack into your daily activities? Comment below to share!
