Slack

Last updated: May 27, 2022

Introduction

Slack has become one of the most popular and widely used team communication services on the market. Slack is a business communication platform that includes several different methods for a team to interface remotely, including chat rooms and audio calls.

Background

Slack was developed by Slack Technologies in 2013¹ and stands for “ Searchable Log of all Conversation and Knowledge “ according to lead designer Stewart Butterfield who also helped create Flickr².

Slack offers several methods of communication which include:

Channels
Slack Connect
Messaging
Video and voice calls

Slack offers its services in the form of 4 different versions³ that are available for different prices, which are Free, Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Grid. Pricings and some of the different features available are found below:

	Free	Pro	Business+	Enterprise Grid
Cost	$0.00 USD	$6.67 USD per person, per month, when billed yearly $8 USD per person, per month, when billed monthly	$12.50 USD per person, per month, when billed yearly $15 USD/person, per month, when billed monthly	Must contact the sales team in order to receive an estimate
Message History	10K of the most recent messages	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Apps and Integrations	10	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
File Storage	5 GB per workplace	10GB per member	20GB per member	1TB per member
Voice and Video calls	One-to-One only	Up to 15 people group calls	Up to 15 people group calls	Up to 15 people group calls

For a full list of features, please visit this link³

Process

Slack encompasses several different forms of online communication, which allows for different types of combinations in order to better suit almost every situation. For example, if a team relies heavily on file transfer then a channel dedicated to managing files can be created⁴, or if several different teams make up one business unit, then different workplaces can be made in order to handle different departments⁵.

However, all of this can be intimidating to those unfamiliar with telecommunication software such as Slack. With that being said, Slack offers support through its chat system or its help center, which contains countless guides⁶ that can help a person get their Slack page up and running.

To help demonstrate all that Slack has to offer, here is an image from the article “How to organize your Slack channels⁷”:

Slack screenshot

Brand information

Released in 2013 by the creators of Flickr 8 , a photo-sharing website, Slack is written in Electron and Hack . As of 2019, there are 10 million users⁹ who use Slack on a daily basis in over 150 countries. Slack has been applauded for its several different methods of integrations within the software, such as DropBox, Google Drive, and GitHub.

Maybe link both of these to a reference and in the next line just briefly explain what they are. Just one sentence would be good.

Uses in education

At ASU, Slack is heavily incorporated into the management of several different departments; different teams from different colleges rely on Slack in order to transmit information quickly and efficiently.

As for students and their classrooms, there are multiple instances where classes will use Slack as their primary method for communication, as the ability to handle a large number of students and channels proves useful for many professors. Furthermore, both staff and students often find that Slack’s interface is much more organized and convenient than those found in other telecommunication services, such as Discord.

All in all, while intimidating for those unfamiliar with internet relay chat systems, Slack offers a great opportunity for students and staff to organize their teams in an efficient manner.