Let's talk about Slack and
Salesforce Channels, which
unifies Salesforce
records and customer
data with a Slack
conversations
in a single,
connected experience.
Now, that means your
team can work together
more efficiently, make
smarter decisions,
I am joined by two of my
favorite Slack buddies.
We have Kamilla
Khaydarov, Senior Director
of Product PM at Slack,
and Mike Reynolds,
Senior Technical
Program Marketing
Let's talk about my
favorite topic, Slack.
And let's talk about
Salesforce Channels.
Kamilla, can you set the
stage for us a little bit.
Tell us what are
Salesforce Channels?
Well, really--
OK, context.
I've been at Salesforce
for 13 years.
You've been here
longer than I have.
And we have seen, I would
say, quite a large change
in how we collaborate,
how we work.
We've seen that evolution.
When we acquired
Slack, it was
all about how do we
take that next step
So when we acquired Slack,
I think, in '21, right?
We rolled out
Slack integrations
Then after that,
two years ago, we
had Slack Sales
Elevate, which was all
about bringing sales data,
and sales work and process
Last year, Salesforce
Channels came into Slack.
And that was all about all
of your account details,
and opportunity details,
and case details,
all of that coming in
to the collaboration,
grounding the
conversation.
What's really exciting
is that now Salesforce
Channels are in
Salesforce, right
on the record, whatever
record you're using.
This is the culmination
of that journey
in developing that next
step, that next type
And it's not just
collaboration.
It's all about getting
your work done.
So it's what do you
need to do, who do you
need to move from point
A to customer success?
So it's really bringing
your teams, your people,
your agents, your data
all into one place,
no matter where
you're working.
So if you're on Slack on
web, Slack on desktop,
mobile, Salesforce,
wherever you want it,
those channels, and
everything in them--
again, the data,
the people,
everything you need to
get your work done--
it's all in
the same place.
And what's really
great is that it's
flexible across all
of your records.
Great, let's
discuss a case and.
Let's do it with
an engineer.
And let's bring in
whatever details
we need to get
that case resolved.
Or maybe you're at a
marketing campaign,
and you need to
get an approval
on budget or layout,
whatever it is.
You can do that around
the campaign record,
and have that
conversation in Slack.
So as one of my
colleagues likes to say,
it's about bringing
the conversation--
the conversation now is
the work, instead of,
conversations here,
the work's over there,
the data is
somewhere else.
It's about unifying
all of that
so that it doesn't
feel as onerous,
and it doesn't feel like
there's all this red tape
and bureaucracy
from just trying
to get your job done
on a daily basis.
Making it easier for
people to get their job
That's a good thing to
try and help people do.
I think that was
an accurate spiel.
But we have more
time, so we're
Now, Mike, you
have been all
over the globe in
the last few months,
and you have been
talking to developers
at tons of events,
events like TDX's events,
And you've been
giving some
of those long-time
Salesforce developers
and leaders sneak peeks
into Salesforce Channels.
The response has been
incredibly enthusiastic.
I think people are so
happy to have everything
When it's not just that we
can work together, but now
we can be enterprise-wide.
And I think one
of the problems
that as Salesforce
practitioners
we have faced for years
is we can engineer
these brilliant and
easy to use processes,
but we have to
just take it
to the edge of Salesforce,
and then we go,
oh, well, those
users, those teams
And we don't have
to do that anymore.
And so now we can
go enterprise-wide.
And having everything
in context,
it's like you
were saying, it
doesn't matter
where you are.
You can be on the
Salesforce platform
in your lightning
pages, or you
can be over in Slack,
and still see everything
And I think, and
correct me if I'm wrong,
but I think that one of
the challenges that people
have had is that tech
stacks are getting
You can take it to the
edge of this product,
or you can take it to
the edge of this product,
and then you're
still stuck
with the copy and paste,
and the swivel chair.
We're going to
miss things.
You forget to look
in one other place,
and now you only
have half an answer.
But if you take the
consumer-grade, beloved
experience of
Slack, and you
combine that with
all of the data
and all of the
knowledge in Salesforce,
and not just
all of the data
and knowledge
in Salesforce,
but all of the
integrations
that are coming
into Slack,
and all the integrations
that come into Salesforce,
and you bundle all
of that together.
Well, it's really a better
together, seamless story.
And it's fundamentally
changing how you develop,
fundamentally
changing how you work,
because it eliminates
all the gaps,
not just in
your tech stack,
but the gaps between
what you need to do,
and what you
could do, given
the opportunity, given the
people, given the tools.
So it's all about, we
talk about data lot.
And at Agentforce
World Tour,
we talk about
Agentforce a lot.
And this is a
whole new level
of depth to all
of that as well.
You've got your
unstructured data.
You've got your
structured data.
And your agents are in
your Salesforce Channels,
really making sure that
what they're bringing
to the table is relevant
and accurate and
And bringing everything
together really
eliminates those kinds
of handoff points.
Well, the first time
we showed Agentforce
in Salesforce, little
pop-up window right
Now, with
Salesforce Channels,
Slack Channels
basically in Salesforce,
that agent can
be in Slack,
and that same
experience of them just
having a separate pop-up
screen that doesn't have
all the context
of everything
else on the record and
all the conversations,
it's right there in
a Slack conversation,
right there, taking the
same kind of actions
They know where
they are, which is
When you're building this
agent, a lot of the time,
we're trying to
think of, how
do I get the right
access to the data that
matters, to provide the
context and the relevance?
And you just
forget about all
of that when you're using
Salesforce Channels.
Because when you
invite the agent
into the
Salesforce Channel,
they know what
record it relates to.
And so instead of saying,
can you help me understand
this within the context
of ACME account,
you just say, can you
help me understand
And it's like, oh,
you mean the one
that we're in
the channel for?
We're going to talk
more about this.
But we've been talking
about Salesforce Channels.
I think our viewers
would probably like
So let's check out a
quick demo of Salesforce
Sales rep working
on a complex deal.
In the past, that
meant struggling
to track emails,
approvals,
Salesforce updates,
and chat messages.
Everything was
disconnected.
But now I have one
place to collaborate
with my entire
team in real-time,
with a single shared
view of our customer,
thanks to
Salesforce Channels.
So what's a
Salesforce Channel?
It's a dedicated place for
my team to work together,
that's mapped one-to-one
with my Salesforce record.
They can be built off
of any object, accounts,
opportunities, even
custom objects,
and are the perfect
place for us
to work together around
a customer initiative,
with a complete picture
across data and dialogue.
Best of all, they allow
us to work together
while keeping us focused
wherever we work best,
whether that's in
Salesforce, for me,
or in Slack, where
my financial analyst
and success manager
prefer to work.
If you've used
Slack before,
this should look familiar.
We've got our
messages, our sidebar,
and deal notifications
sent into our channel.
We've also got our
favorite Slack features,
like an executive
briefing canvas,
pinned messages,
and shared files,
But there are a few new
things that are unique.
The channel name takes on
the record name and object
type, so it's easy to know
you're in the right place
to discuss this
customer every time.
And because this all is
happening in a Salesforce
Channel, everything
shared and discussed
in the channel is linked
back to the record.
The Record Details tab
is the perfect place
to get a quick overview
of data in Salesforce.
If permissions
allow, the team
can update fields,
manage tasks, even run
quick actions, right
from Slack, plus
get a quick overview
of the account
team and related
lists, all
pulled in from our unique
page layout in Salesforce.
AI summaries in
Salesforce Channels
keep us up to speed
on the latest customer
conversations, both
in this channel
and any others
tied to the record.
With one click,
my sales manager
can quickly catch
up, and spot
where to jump in
and guide the deal.
And with related lists,
we get a table view
of all my open
opportunities with ACME,
showing every deal
tied to the account.
We can update
fields right here.
No toggling needed
as changes sync
Quick decisions, clean
records all in one place.
Now, as a support rep, I'm
tackling an urgent billing
issue with finance
and customer
success that's blocking
a deal with ACME.
Even if they're
working in Slack,
and I'm in Salesforce,
we can quickly
get to the bottom
of the issue.
We stay connected on
the issue in real-time,
and easily bring
in teammates,
like our product
logistics expert,
And because Slack
is connected
to all of our
enterprise tools,
like finance's
ERP system, we
don't need to swivel out
of where we're working
to investigate and
resolve the problem, which
leads to quicker
case resolutions.
So now that we've gotten
to the root of the issue,
it's time to take action.
Thankfully,
Agentforce is part
of the team and our
opportunity channel,
so next steps
only take seconds.
Just by at mentioning our
customer insights agent,
we can instantly kick
off a customer briefing
The agent pulls in context
from across Salesforce
and Slack to create a
comprehensive resource
we can take straight
to the customer.
And just like that,
we're on the road
This is what it looks like
when humans and agents
work together, seamlessly,
across systems,
with one shared view
of the customer.
More revenue,
higher retention,
That is the power of
Salesforce Channels.
So now that you've seen
Salesforce Channels
in action, let's
talk a little bit
You don't want to
talk about use cases?
Well, then, Mike,
do you want to talk?
I love talking
about use cases.
Let's talk about what
are some use cases
for Salesforce Channels
that we have already been
So I'm pretty sure that
everyone on this broadcast
is immediately going to
hate me for this answer.
Because the sky
is the limit.
You can literally do
a Salesforce Channel
on any record, accounts,
cases, opportunities,
campaigns, but also
any custom records.
So whatever
you've built, you
get to discuss
with your teams,
depending on what
your process is.
So two easy to understand,
easy to grok use cases.
Number one, sales quotes.
When you go out and
you create a quote,
you bring in all
your products,
and you pull it
from the ERP,
and you've got
your quote record,
and now you have to send
it over to the Deal Desk.
And when you do that, it
goes into the black box
And you never know
what's going to happen,
or when it's going
to come back out,
or what the feedback
is going to be.
There's inevitably going
to be an email thread back
So instead, you take
the quote record,
and you just plop
a channel on it.
And you, as a salesperson,
live in your quote record.
And you can at
mention the finance
team, the legal
team, whomever it is.
And they come
to the record
to have the conversation.
So as your boss
says, hey, where
is the quote
in the process?
You can just point him
to the quote channel.
And if you need a
little bit of oomph
to get that quote
across the line, great.
You bring in that person.
It's all about, hey,
we know exactly what
And because it's linked
to the account as well,
we can go into there, and
see what the background
is, and then get everyone
working on the same thing.
And whether you're in
Salesforce or in Slack,
all the workflows
work as well.
So if you needed
to fire off--
well, you don't know
who in finance is going
But here's the help
finance workflow.
Another one is incident
management, a easy channel
This one I actually
love a lot.
Because as a
customer support rep,
you're going to be working
in Service Cloud Console.
That's your
Command Center.
And you're talking to
your customer in there.
And then all of
a sudden, you
think, oh, I
need an engineer
So now I'm going to have
to switch systems, copy
all of the information
from the conversation
and the case into
a new system,
like Jira or something,
and then work
with them in
there, and then
copy back into the console
to talk to my customer.
Instead, you have a
channel on that case,
and your engineer
is in there.
And in fact, your Jira
is integrated into it
as well, so you're
getting updates from Jira
The customer
service rep sees it.
They can respond to the
customer themselves.
It makes the entire
process so much more
And like I said, whether
it's quotes, incidents,
cases, what have
you, anything
within your Salesforce
instance can be discussed,
can be optimized,
can be improved by--
I'm going to say
this 14 more times.
But it can be improved
with people and data
coming together
in one place.
The ones that
I really love
are when you've built
a wonderful process,
but you've had to send an
email to another team that
I love looking at those
use cases, where it's,
oh, I sent this email
to my billing team,
and hopefully
they'll respond soon.
You don't have the
optics that you need.
And we can eliminate
that entirely.
Whatever that
record is, that's
We go into Slack, we
at mention these people
So I'm staying
in Salesforce,
but my Slack
is right there.
I at mentioned
that billing team,
and get the help that
I need right now.
And the billing
team doesn't
need to then switch
into Salesforce.
They don't even need
a Salesforce license.
Yeah, they can be
in that channel,
and still collaborate,
and they don't necessarily
They need to understand
what I've told them.
Mike and I are
just going to do
On that note, I'm
going to interject.
Because Mike,
you've actually
been building,
getting hands-on
with Salesforce Channels.
You've built a
lot of demos.
I want to hear from you,
what should Salesforce
admins and
Salesforce developers
do to prepare for
Salesforce Channels,
and get the most
out of them?
So I think the big
thing to highlight
with this is that it's a
lot easier than we think
In a minute, we can
show what that setup
But all the permissions
that we set up,
all the structures
that we have labored
over around record
access and field level
security, and an
object access, and all
of our permissions
modeling
with our profiles, and
our permission sets,
and permission set
groups, all of that,
there's so much
work in it.
Are you reading from the
Setup menu at this point?
Yeah, the whole
Setup menu.
And all of that
still works.
You don't have to
actually change any of it.
And so all of that
build still applies.
If you can't see the
field in Salesforce,
you're not going
to be able to see
But if you are a
Slack user that
doesn't have that
Salesforce access,
I can still be
in the channel.
So I can still
collaborate with you.
And that will show
up in Lightning.
So I'm right on my record.
And Gillian, if you don't
have a Salesforce license,
I can still
collaborate with you,
I mean, I would also
probably still call you
and text you, and all
of that, but yeah.
Well, on that
note, we actually
have another
demo about how
to set up Salesforce
Channels in Lightning.
Let's walk through
how to set up
Once you've connected
your Slack workspace
and Salesforce org, head
to Salesforce Setup,
and search for Slack
Channels for Records.
Here, you'll decide
which objects
can have Slack Channels
created for them.
You'll see some
suggested options
based on common
use cases, but you
can enable channels for
any standard or custom
Salesforce Channels
are great for anything
that requires
collaboration
across functions,
like complex deal
cycles, service
escalations,
Let's start with
the account object.
This lets your teams
spin-up dedicated Slack
channels for strategic
customer accounts,
giving them a single
space to share
updates, coordinate
next steps,
and move faster together.
Next, choose which record
pages should include
From here, search for
the Slack component,
and drag it onto
the page layout.
It's a standard
Lightning Web component,
so you can drop
it wherever
it fits best with the rest
of your team's workflow.
Once you hit Save, the
component goes live.
Now, when someone opens
up an account record,
they'll see the Salesforce
Channel front and center.
And just like
that, your team
has everything they
need to collaborate,
stay aligned, and
keep momentum going.
So now that we know how to
put it on a record page,
let's talk a little
bit about how
Mike, can you talk
about how hard
It is so difficult.
It's an investment
I don't know
if I have that.
So, actually, last
week, I was presenting
at London's Calling,
which is a great community
conference right
here in London.
And I had a member from
the audience come up
Because Slack workflows
are very easy to build,
and you don't need a lot.
It's intimidating, but you
can just get in and do it.
And at the end of that, we
added Salesforce Channels.
This audience
member did not
know that this was
going to happen.
Go into Setup, search for
Slack Record Channels.
Congratulations,
you're done.
The mapping is
really easy.
You can use the
Federated IDs.
So, everything,
again, is exactly
We did a session
this morning
where, once again,
we got to do a spiel
And an audience
member asked,
what do I need to do to
turn this on on Monday?
The answer is,
you turn it on.
Once you get your
Salesforce instance
and your Slack
instance connected,
this is the matter
of a few seconds.
There is the matter of
dragging and dropping
the Lightning component
onto your page.
I'm a huge fan of
Lightning App Builder.
I remember, way long time
ago when we released that,
and I was like,
this is awesome.
I cannot design
and build pages.
But yes, if you can use
Lightning App Builder,
you can put Salesforce
Channels on the page.
I mean, this is such
a huge innovation.
And I think
especially thinking
about my inner
Salesforce admin heart,
this is the moment where
I think it really opens up
the opportunity for
everyone to start thinking
about Slack,
and how powerful
it is in getting
our hands on it,
and helping your whole
organization run smoother,
Who doesn't love an emoji?
And this is a
really good point.
If you don't
have Slack today,
Slack Free
works with this.
And so if you're just
using your Salesforce,
and you're thinking,
oh, I'm not sure.
Well, go ahead
and try it out.
Well, if you want
to learn more
about how to set up
Salesforce Channels,
Check out our brand
new hands-on content
I'm going to mess that up.
You should go
check it out.
And I want to thank
you both so much
for joining me
on the broadcast.
We could talk about
Salesforce Channels
But for right
now, we are going
And stay tuned for
more content right here
