Slack partners with Google to bring users a suite of deep integrations

Cloud-based team collaboration tool Slack has partnered with Google to bring users more integrated offerings. There are millions of Google Drive documents shared on Slack by professional teams every month, and Slack intends that its users to be able to do more with Google services within Slack. There are a number of planned updates for integration with Google Drive, Google Cloud and Google Docs.

Google is building a Google Drive based bot that can be used from within Slack. As you may know, comments on Slides, Docs and Sheets can get lost beneath a pile of emails, now these comments can be settled, approved or rejected from within Slack itself, with notifications appearing in the Slack channel. Requests for access are also planned to be integrated, with a button for granting or denying access. Google Docs can be opened from within Slack to handle the comments.

If you share a file on a Slack channel, and everyone in that channel does not have permission to access it, then Slack will prompt you to give those permissions first. This takes care of the irritating problem of sharing files in a Slack channel, only to find out later that users cannot access the document.

Team Drives is a feature for professional groups that allows users to save common content in one place. A Slack channel can now be integrated with a Team Drive. Content posted to the Slack channel will automatically be saved on the Team Drive, and content uploaded to the Team Drive will automatically be shared on Slack. There is also an option to use Team Drive as the main repository of all content posted on Slack.

The G Suite admin console will now allow system administrators to provision Slack for the entire company. New and existing teams on Slack support this function. The feature is useful for large organisations, as it reduces the potential for user error. A planned feature is the availability to preview files shared on Slack, without having to open it. Such a feature is planned for Google Drive, which will allow users to glance at the content of the document.

The integrations are scheduled to be rolled out in the first half of 2017.

Source: Slack

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Skype Teams: Microsoft aims at Slack with its latest service

Team-messaging app Slack has recently developed a  substantial user base and earned envy from other apps that allow group messaging. Microsoft is now reportedly coming up with its own rival group chat app under its Skype brand named Skype Teams.

In basic functionality, Skype Teams seems to be fairly similar to Slack as it allows you to chat with other users in the team individually or in groups, as reported by MSPowerUser. Skype Teams will also allow you to share files as well as send emojis just like Slack does. Ther's also a 'Fun Picker' that lets you add gif images and memes to your conversations.

Further, users can respond to particular comments, as on Facebook threads, and also start video chats at any point during a conversation. Skype Teams will essentially provide users with Slack's functionality along with core features that you expect from a Skype product.

Microsoft will be adding the ability to schedule online meetings to the app, which might be extremely useful as the app is targeted at teams. The app will also come with an integration with Office 365 apps as well as OneDrive. It will also feature support for the Skype Bot framework, and it will be interesting to see how Microsoft leverages its AI chops to counter Slackbot.

According to the report, Microsoft will be releasing Skype Team apps for Web, Windows, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.

Competition can often lead to innovation and there might be certain set of users who might be more suited to Microsoft's offering due to Office 365 integration. However, for more information about the app, we will have to wait for official announcement by the company.

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