What Slack is (in plain English)

• Slack is a channel‑based workspace where your team chats, shares files, and gets work done without drowning in email. Channels keep discussions tidy by topic, project, or team, so people can find context fast and jump in where it matters. (slack.com)

• It’s built to be your hub for work: talk in real time, spin up quick audio/video huddles, co‑edit lightweight docs in canvases, manage tasks in lists, and pull updates in from the tools you already use. (slack.com)

• Slack now includes native AI that summarizes threads and channels, takes notes in huddles, answers questions with AI search, and even summarizes files—so you spend less time catching up and more time moving forward. (slack.com)

• You can also work with customers and vendors in shared channels using Slack Connect—securely and with the same tools and automations you use internally. (slack.com)

Why it matters for a solid Back Office

• HR and People Ops: Use lists to track onboarding, canvases for handbooks, Channel Expert to answer common policy questions, and AI summaries to brief managers on long threads. (slack.com)

• Finance and Procurement: Route intake and approvals with Workflow Builder, capture e‑signatures with DocuSign/Adobe Sign, and sync spend with Ramp—right from Slack. (slack.com)

• IT and Facilities: Triage tickets from Jira or ServiceNow in channels, spin up huddles for incidents with automatic AI notes, and keep a searchable record of decisions. (slack.com)

• Legal and Compliance: Manage contracts and approvals in shared channels with partners via Slack Connect, while retaining governance, retention, and e‑discovery controls. (slack.com)

Key features you’ll actually use

• Channels and DMs: Organize conversations by topic or team, keep history searchable, and invite the right people at the right time. Salesforce Channels can even bring live CRM data into Slack. (slack.com)

• Huddles and Clips: Start quick audio/video conversations from any channel. Slack’s AI can take huddle notes with action items and attendees automatically. (slack.com)

• Canvases (docs inside Slack): Capture meeting notes, project briefs, FAQs, and embed workflows and app data—no switching tabs. AI writing helps draft and summarize. (slack.com)

• Lists (tasks/projects): Track tasks, owners, and status, and wire them to automations for intake and approvals—all inside Slack. (slack.com)

• Workflow Builder (automation): Build no‑code workflows for requests, approvals, triage, reminders, and more. Use connectors for Jira, ServiceNow, Zoom, Google Sheets, DocuSign, Salesforce, and many others. (slack.com)

• Apps and integrations: Choose from 2,600+ apps to bring calendars, files, tickets, and dashboards into Slack. Less context switching, more flow. (slack.com)

• Slack Connect: Collaborate with customers, vendors, and agencies in shared channels to speed up reviews, approvals, and deal cycles—without giving access to your whole workspace. (slack.com)

• Search and Slack AI: Ask questions in natural language and get AI answers based on the messages and files you already have access to. Get daily recaps, thread/channel summaries, and file summaries to stay current in minutes. (slack.com)

• Security and compliance: Enterprise‑grade controls such as SSO, SCIM, DLP/e‑discovery integrations, encryption at rest/in transit, data residency, and even Enterprise Key Management for your own encryption keys. (slack.com)

Pricing at a glance (United States; current as of September 28, 2025)

• Free: Core