Slack is now reportedly offering integration with Microsoft Teams and other calling apps in a bid to offer the best chat productivity possible. Now, that’s not going to be full integration, allowing users to make calls directly in the Slack app. But it will let users move into a Microsoft Teams call directly from within the popular app.
The experience is available in the form of an app called Microsoft Teams Calls, which can then be set as a default calling provider in Slack. Users will be able to join calls. That’s on top of the new ability to see who is already in a call before joining, from within the Slack app.
New Slack integrations arrive just in time as more users are working from home
Slack isn’t solely providing support for Microsoft Teams calling integration either. Slack users are additionally gaining the ability to add those calls directly from Slack event reminders associated with the Outlook Slack app.
And the company is also adding in VoIP phone integration and support for several other services. Those include Zoom, Cisco Jabber, RingCentral, and Dialpad. Cisco Webex meetings were already supported in previous releases. Each can now be set as the default calling app, allowing users to jump into those calls from directly within the Slack app.
Each of the new integrations stems from the rampant growth Slack has experienced as more workers complete their tasks from home. The company indicates that it has seen an almost 350-percent increase in calls made and received in its app. That’s over the past month alone and tied directly to its claim of record-breaking figures with regard to the users.
Slack is capitalizing on that and on the rapidly-expanding number of Microsoft Teams users with its latest integrations. But the integration will undoubtedly prove convenient to workers who are staying home. Or for those who are part of smaller on-site teams for the time being.
With such a wide swath of popular VoIP calling solutions now at users’ ready disposal, Slack can perform more adeptly as an all-in-one enterprise messaging platform. That’s true even where the apps can’t make calls directly in the Slack app just yet. The integration means fewer clicks from users, to begin with.
Cementing Slacks place as a productivity app right now
Now, Slack may not be at the top of anybody’s list in terms of best messaging apps or platforms. But it is certainly one of the top messaging apps dedicated to productivity and enterprise users. Support for Microsoft Teams and VoIP phone integration with top providers only helps the company hold onto its position.
Each of the new integrations is also already available right now. The calling features are available in-app, behind a click on the in-chat phone icon. Users simply need to have a Zoom account linked, for instance, before making the call. The same holds for each of the other integrations too. Slack has updated its Help Center pages to assist anybody having difficulty instantiating a phone call with the new features.