Salesforce is introducing new features in Slack to streamline the process of building automated workflows, catering to users with varying levels of technical expertise.

Enhanced Automation Features in Slack

• Users can now initiate workflows in Slack based on events in third-party apps like PagerDuty, Asana, or BitBucket.
• Access to over 50 templates for common productivity tasks is now available for creating workflows in Slack.
• Developers have more coding languages and tools at their disposal to create custom workflows and share them with their teams.

In a statement, Rob Seaman, Slack’s chief product officer, emphasized the platform’s commitment to facilitating the creation of automated workflows for enhanced productivity.

These updates follow the launch of Slack’s generative AI assistance tool earlier this year.

A Closer Look at the New Features

Slack’s Workflow Builder tool allows users to automate essential processes within the platform without increasing IT workloads.

Previously, starting a Slack workflow required an action within Slack or Salesforce. With the latest features, users can now trigger actions in third-party apps directly from Slack.

For instance, during a critical outage, a user can log a ticket in PagerDuty, initiating a workflow in Slack that creates an incident channel, adds team members, sets up a canvas, and shares relevant information for efficient issue resolution.

Another new feature includes easy workflow creation using plug-and-play design and access to over 50 pre-built templates for common business tasks.

Developers can customize workflows more easily with new tools on Slack’s developer platform, leveraging open APIs and developer tools for creating custom steps.

Developers can now:

• Create and manage custom steps within the Slack app settings page.
• Enhance existing custom-built Slack apps with custom steps for Workflow Builder integration.
• Utilize a variety of programming languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, and Java for developing custom steps.

These enhancements are now available to all Slack customers, according to Salesforce.

Increasing Productivity Demands

No-code and low-code development platforms are gaining popularity, allowing non-IT staff to create applications and automate tasks without extensive coding knowledge.

Gartner predicts a significant increase in the use of low-code development tools by developers outside formal IT departments in the coming years.

According to a 2023 Slack report, business leaders are under pressure to boost team productivity through automation, while IT leaders express concerns about meeting growing business demands without hindering innovation.

Users recognize the potential of automation in enhancing productivity, with 77% stating that automating routine tasks would greatly improve their efficiency.

Slack’s new features aim to empower developers and end-users to automate business processes seamlessly within their work apps, aligning with Slack’s user-centric product principles.

Seaman emphasized the goal of making automation intuitive and efficient for all users, regardless of technical expertise, to drive productivity.

roosho Senior Engineer (Technical Services)

I am Rakib Raihan RooSho, Jack of all IT Trades. You got it right. Good for nothing. I try a lot of things and fail more than that. That's how I learn. Whenever I succeed, I note that in my cookbook. Eventually, that became my blog. 

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