The Best Productivity Slack Apps for Small Business
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Slack, the popular and powerful communication platform used by millions of people around the world, has changed when and how companies communicate. Fully remote and hybrid work has kept the demand for asynchronous communication high and companies have had to adapt through digital transformation programs. Part of a great digital experience within Slack is leveraging third-party applications. Built to drive in-application engagement there is a rich ecosystem of productivity apps and integrations that employees can use during day-to-day work. Here are ten of the best Slack Apps for Productivity:
Trello
Trello is a project management app that allows teams to collaborate and track their progress on various tasks and projects. By integrating with Slack, it allows users to receive notifications and updates on their Trello boards. Particularly powerful for remote and distributed teams it provides a “push” of visibility rather than a pull. This enables team members to see Trello updates like an RSS or update feed. This not only reduces the impact of context switching for many, but it can significantly reduce the dreaded Slack message first thing in the morning of “Hey, do you have an update?” Harness the power of Trello boards and project management methodology by integrating with Slack. Teams can easily keep track of their tasks and stay up-to-date on any changes or updates to their projects without begging for an update in the project channel.
Google Drive
Google Drive, the cloud-based storage and collaboration platform enables teams to share and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Something unique about the Google Drive integration in Slack, is the easy file-sharing permissions - when a Google Drive link is shared by a user to a channel or in a direct message, Google Drive prompts the user to edit permissions and share the document if one or more recipients does not have access. It is small features like this that make Slack Apps incredibly powerful and easy to use - it enables a frictionless experience for users to access information and documents from the Google file repository. It also helps drive data and document hygiene so documents are more accessible, duplicated less, and more easily leveraged to make key business decisions.
Zoom
Zoom, the darling video conferencing platform of the pandemic, enables teams to have virtual meetings and conferences internally and externally. By leveraging the Zoom Slack App for productivity, users can start calls with a “slash command” - making it incredibly user-friendly. Whether in a channel, private chat, or DM Slash Commands enable users to invoke keyword specific processes and execute functions in a chat. WIth Zoom this makes it incredibly easy to users can start Zoom meetings directly within Slack or invite others to a call. The one thing a Slash Command cannot do for you with a Zoom integration is set some awesome backgrounds.
Asana
Asana is a project management tool that allows teams to track their progress on various tasks and projects. Its Slack integration allows users to receive updates and notifications on their Asana tasks and projects. By using Asana and Slack together, teams can easily keep track of their tasks and stay up-to-date on any changes or updates to their projects. Asana is a great tool for organizing and prioritizing tasks and is particularly useful for teams that work remotely or across multiple time zones.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a file hosting and sharing app that allows teams to store and share files. Its Slack integration allows users to access and share files directly in Slack. By using Dropbox and Slack together, teams can easily share and collaborate on files without having to switch between different applications. This integration is particularly useful for teams that need to work on multiple documents simultaneously.
GitHub is a code hosting platform that allows developers to collaborate on software development projects. Its Slack integration allows users to receive notifications and updates on their GitHub repositories. By using GitHub and Slack together, developers can easily keep track of their code changes and stay up-to-date on any updates or issues. This integration is particularly useful for teams that work on open-source projects.
Polly
Polly is a survey and polling app that allows teams to gather feedback and opinions from team members. Its Slack integration allows users to create and send polls directly in Slack. By using Polly and Slack together, teams can easily gather feedback and opinions without having to switch between different applications. This integration is particularly useful for teams that need to make decisions quickly. Not only is using Polly for determining where everyone wants to go for lunch a great use of the app, it enables for asynchronous gathering of opinions or preferences for more critical business decisions. Teams can use it to vote on design or product decisions or it can be a fun way to poll the group about a favorite movie. Polly leaves the creativity of the poll’s up to you - but it delivers the functionality to everyone, right in your Slack Channel or Direct Message.
Donut is a team-building app that allows teams to connect with each other and build relationships. Donut is simple in its integration with Slack - it allows users to schedule and receive invitations for virtual coffee or lunch meetings with their team members. Especially powerful for fully remote or highly-distributed teams, Donut makes it very easy to meet new teammates by automating the scheduling and connection between coworkers. Power it up with Zoom or Slack’s own “huddle” to make connecting easy. Donut makes it a piece of cake to connect with colleagues, meet new coworkers, and brings an element of “water cooler chat” to Slack.
Giphy is a popular app for finding and sharing animated GIFs. Searching the world’s greatest GIFs with a slash command in-line in Slack makes sharing GIFs a bit too easy. Whether celebrating birthdays, wins, or cracking jokes within the team, GIFs are a powerful way to communicate and bring lightheartedness to team chats and DMs. The only thing your team will be left debating after sending awesome GIFs is whether it is pronounced GIF or GIF - unfortunately, Giphy’s integration won’t answer that for you.
Zapier is an automation app that allows teams to automate repetitive tasks and workflows. Its Slack integration allows users to create automated workflows that can be triggered by Slack events. By using Zapier and Slack together, teams can automate tasks such as sending notifications, creating tasks, and updating records without having to manually perform these tasks. This integration is particularly useful for teams that want to increase their efficiency and productivity.
Slack is a powerful communication and collaboration tool that becomes even more useful when integrated with productivity apps. The Slack app ecosystem is growing as more and more organizations are leveraging the easy building-blocks to create functional workflows and Slackbots. These 10 Slack apps can help individuals and teams to stay organized, increase efficiency, and improve communication. Critically, all of these Slack App integrations can be nearly click-to-configure and deploy which makes integrating tech stacks easy. Not only do these apps drive productivity, but they ensure critical adoption throughout organizations by driving accessibility from Slack. By using these apps together with Slack, teams can streamline their workflows, reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks, and focus on what really matters – achieving their goals and delivering high-quality work.
