Work feels broken. We’re drowning in too many systems, endless context switching, and information scattered across countless platforms. But what if the solution isn’t adding another tool, but transforming one you already use into the glue that binds everything together? Slack wants to be that tool.
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In this conversation with Peter Doolan, Chief Customer Officer at Slack, we explore how Slack is evolving from a messaging platform into what they call a “work operating system.” Doolan reveals how customer feedback has shaped Slack’s transformation, particularly the groundbreaking “Salesforce Channels” that connect Salesforce’s structured data records with the rich contextual conversations happening in Slack.
For organizations concerned that Slack may become too Salesforce-centric, Doolan stresses its commitments to open integration. Their approach to enterprise search stands apart from competitors, he further states. Rather than pulling you away from your workflow, Slack aims to federate searches across your systems while maintaining strict security protocols, bringing information to you instead of making you hunt for it.
And then there’s Slack’s understanding of communication patterns. Their Huddles feature serves a fundamentally different purpose than traditional video conferencing, Doolan states. It is designed for those quick, contextual conversations that drive business forward.
Looking ahead, Slack’s three-pronged AI strategy wants to transform work: Slack AI enhances the core platform’s intelligence, Salesforce Agent integration brings specialized AI assistants into channels, and an open ecosystem supports third-party AI applications. Throughout it all, Slack’s core philosophy remains focused on capturing and maintaining attention. That’s the scarcest resource in our distracted work lives.
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Techzine Talks on Tour: season two
We started Techzine Talks on Tour in May of 2024, with the goal of doing at least one episode every two weeks. After 25 episodes in 2024 we were close enough to that target for us to call the first season a good start. That’s what it is, a start, because we’re not done yet. We continue with a second season, with the goal of growing our reach even further.
A big thank you to the people who found us in 2024 already. We hope you continue to listen to Techzine Talks on Tour in 2025. If this is your first encounter with our podcast, there’s much more to come! We hope you enjoy this episode.
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Previous episodes of Techzine Talks on Tour:
- Oracle Database@AWS: best of both worlds?
- Replatforming virtualized workloads: Do your VMs need a new home?
- Amazon S3: almost 20 years old, but still very modern
- A Ferrari needs brakes, innovation needs cybersecurity
- Behind Cisco’s billion-dollar AI investment strategy
Get in touch
We hope you like this podcast series. If so, please let us know. If you have suggestions on how we can improve, we would like to hear those too. We’re also open to suggestions around specific topics, or specific people that want to appear in an episode of Techzine Talks on Tour. You can find both Coen van Eenbergen and Sander Almekinders on LinkedIn, or you can send an email to info@techzine.eu.
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