There's a lot less duplicative work. It's much easier to bring someone in, all the reasons that channels are better. But the other reason why I like this use case is because that's an argument to buy Slack, get revenue, which is different than buy Slack, get productivity. I'm 100% sure that the ROI on the productivity sale is massive, like 100x or something like that because we don't actually charge that much in the grand scheme of things. But of course, that's always a harder sale to make whereas buy our product, get revenue is a lot easier. Butterfield's explanation sounds very Salesforce-ish. What Slack doesn't have is the scale to be included into larger purchases. Slack is a point purchase today. Salesforce would change that buying cycle overnight. What analysts are saying The reaction to a Salesforce-Slack combination is a bit mixed. Here's a quick survey: Cowen analyst J. Derrick Wood said: Collaboration is becoming increasingly important as COVID-19 has potentially permanently altered the way in which enterprises operate and communicate.
2 billion purchase of Segment illustrates the trend. The competitive axis in CRM is Microsoft with partners like Adobe and vs. Salesforce. Salesforce has yet to nail the collaboration game. Salesforce launched Chatter in 2009, bought Quip in 2016 and just rolled out Salesforce Anywhere, but lacks the reach of Slack. Nevertheless, Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, has had a love affair for communication and collaboration for years. He even floated acquiring Twitter, but shareholder reaction thwarted the deal. Benioff lost out on LinkedIn, which was acquired by Microsoft. For its part, Slack hasn't grabbed share amid the move to remote work. Zoom has become the collaboration darling as video conferencing moved to the front of the stack. Microsoft Teams offers Slack-like features with better video communications. You could argue Slack is on its heels and in need of a buyer with scale. Slack's ability to bridge companies and partners via its Slack Connect would be critical to Salesforce, which has Customer 360 but largely stays within the confines of the enterprise.
Dynamics 365 mobile app users can dictate or scan in a business card and related notes; take advantage of deep linking between Outlook calendar, email, and Teams; and get automatic transcriptions for calls and meetings. I'm interested in what Microsoft has to say on this topic of Teams-Dynamics integration for a few reasons. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and other company leaders often talk about integrating systems of record and systems of engagement. This Teams-Dynamics integration would be a tangible example of this, I believe. Plus, anything that makes using Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 together seems like it would be welcomed by users -- even ones who also like having the ability to mix and match Microsoft- and non-Microsoft apps. Speaking of Dynamics 365 and Ignite, it looks like Microsoft is planning an announcement around a new intelligent order management system next week, too.
Salesforce's purchase of Slack gives it more heft vs. Microsoft and plays in a broader theme of Salesforce as the connector on multiple fronts such as applications ( MuleSoft), analytics ( Tableau) and collaboration (Slack). Simply put, Microsoft with Teams, Dynamics and Office 365 can connect customers, vendors and partners. Salesforce needs the same and could use Slack Connect to be the glue of the sales process. Slack may also play some future role in and employee engagement. Best CRM software for SMBs in 2020: Capsule, Salesmate, Dynamics 365, and more This collaboration-meets-sales vision was outlined by Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield during the company's second quarter earnings conference call Sept. 8. Butterfield was asked about Slack Connect and how it connects multiple enterprises. He said: The use cases that I'm most excited about are sales-related. Because, it's actually just really good. I mean it's great to have -- for a complex sales process, which can involve legal negotiations and security reviews and the vendor approval process and all of that stuff to have the leaders, the managers on the sell side and the buy side both kind of have oversight of the conversations that are happening.
Microsoft has a number of planned announcements around "embedded collaboration between various Dynamics 365 apps and Teams, " according to my contacts. This will allow Dynamics 365 users to have Teams chat, meetings, calling and records embedded directly in various Dynamics 365 apps, like Sales and Customer Service, in the name of making collaboration more of a real-time experience. Microsoft also is working on improving integration between Teams and Dynamics 365 Marketing. This could provide more seamless connections for live events and webinars, sources say. And tighter integration between Teams and Dynamics 365 Field Service and Commerce are on the to-do list, as well. The already-announced Dynamics 365 mobile app -- which in some ways reminds me of the Office mobile app -- brings together various Dynamics products into a single, unified app. This app, which is available in preview for Windows, offers capabilities like bringing together into a single meeting card Dynamics Relationship Insights, Outlook, and LinkedIn.
Credit: Microsoft From the session list, it seems there is going to be quite a bit of Dynamics 365-related news at next week's Microsoft Ignite virtual conference for IT Pros and developers. One area scheduled to get a lot of emphasis is better integration between Teams/other Microsoft productivity tools and Dynamics 365. Microsoft already offers some Teams-Dynamics integration. In 2019, officials announced and made available Dynamics 365 Sales Integration with Teams. This gave users the ability to connect Dynamics 365 Sales records to Microsoft Teams channels without having to leave the Dynamics 365 Sales App. But it sounds like there's lots more coming. A Day One session, entitled "Microsoft Teams + Dynamics 365: The unified collaboration platform for modern business, " outlines the case for improving the ties between these two product families. Teams-Dynamics integration will improve businesses processes, streamline the exchange of information and knowledge, the session description says.
Salesforce is reportedly in advanced talks to buy Slack with the aim of bridging collaboration with its sales and service clouds and expanding its reach, but the purchase is about playing defense as much as offense. What will Salesforce do with Slack? It's hard to view Salesforce's potential Slack purchase, which may be announced Tuesday per CNBC, in a vacuum. The Wall Street Journal first reported the talks. This deal isn't about product roadmaps and growth as much as it is competitive landscape. Sales and service have gone virtual amid the COVID-19 pandemic and will largely remain that way. Yes folks, travel budgets for sales teams aren't going to come all the way back amid remote work. Salesforce's biggest CRM rivals have collaboration platforms. Microsoft has Teams and its integration with Office 365 and a platform play. And Adobe just acquired Workfront and can integrate that project management platform with its clouds. Communication and customer experiences are merging: Note that Twilio's $3.