What you need to know
- Slack just launched support for launching calls to Microsoft Teams directly within Slack.
- Slack also added the ability to call phone numbers within Slack through supported VOIP services.
- The additions make it easier to connect with people on different platforms.
Slack just announced that starting today, people can launch calls to Microsoft Teams directly within Slack. In addition to the ability to launch calls to Microsoft Teams, Slack announced additional VOIP phone integrations that allow people to use VOIP calling providers to make phone calls to phone numbers directly within Slack. VOIP phone integration works with Zoom, Cisco Jabber, RingCentral, and Dialpad.
The addition of Microsoft Teams support is quite interesting. Microsoft Teams is a direct competitor to Slack, but this move allows people on the platforms to work together. However, Slack working with other services is not new. Slack has over 2,000 applications and works with several popular services. It's worth noting that the integration with Microsoft Teams allows people to launch calls to Teams within Slack, but not participate with the call directly within Slack.
Brian Elliott, VP & General Manager of Slack Platform, shared thoughts on the features:
As part of our ongoing work to help our customers navigate this new world of remote work, we're adding Microsoft Teams calls as a videoconferencing integration option alongside Zoom, Cisco Webex, Bluejeans and Slack native calls. We're also launching new integrations that enable calling phone numbers directly from Slack with Zoom Phone, Cisco Jabber, RingCentral, and Dialpad.Whatever tools you use, wherever you are, and on whatever device, we want them to work seamlessly with Slack. Having all your software at your fingertips can help you stay connected and productive, and in the past month we've seen that our users have nearly tripled the rate at which they integrate their tools in Slack.
Slack's CEO Stewart Butterfield said Slack was working on Microsoft Teams support last week. Now, the feature is available and comes alongside support for VOIP calls to phones through supported services. You can get the Microsoft Teams app for Slack on Slack's website
