Slack is a very useful tool to work with, but unfortunately it is not always possible to receive information in real-time. This can be of crucial importance for projects, which is why the business chat service has now launched a tool to automate workflows: Workflow Builder.
“Coordinating projects with others requires getting the right information to the right people in real time,” Slack said in the announcement of the new tool. This is not always possible, and as a result, the progress of a project is often halted.
Automating workflows
The new Workflow Builder should provide a solution for this problem. The visual tool should automate routine functions with personalized workflows.
The workflows can be built from scratch by users, but Slack has also developed a number of templates. These templates can be used immediately or adapted to meet the requirements of the teams. In this way, your own forms can be set up and reports of incidents can be collected in real time.
As an example, Slack mentions a workflow to welcome new team members into a channel. This allows new team members to be automatically redirected to the right resources, so that they are immediately up to date. In the past, users still had to search for those resources manually. By automating this, a lot of time can be saved.
One of many updates
The Workflow Builder is just one of many updates Slack has released this year. For example, in August it launched an option to use the search bar to search for people within the organization. There was also a possibility to only give specific people permission to post messages in a channel.
Slack hopes that with such updates it can stay ahead of the competition – and Microsoft Teams in particular. Earlier this week, the company announced that it has more than 12 million active users every day. In terms of absolute numbers, it lags behind Teams, which has 13 million active users every day.