Confluence vs Slack

May 23, 2023 | Author: Adam Levine
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Confluence
Confluence provides one place for technical teams to collaborate—create, share, and discuss your ideas, files, minutes, specs, mockups, diagrams, and projects. A rich editor, deep Office and JIRA integration, and powerful plugins help teams collaboratively develop technical docs, intranets, and knowledge bases.
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Slack
Slack brings all your communication together in one place. It's real-time messaging, archiving and search for modern teams. Create open channels for the projects, groups and topics that the whole team shares. Slack searches whole conversations, not just individual messages, so you can find what you’re looking for no matter who said what or when they said it.
Confluence and Slack are two popular collaboration tools that serve different purposes within a team or organization. Confluence is a robust knowledge management and documentation platform that allows teams to create, organize, and share information in the form of documents, wikis, and project documentation. It provides features like version control, commenting, and rich media embedding, making it ideal for capturing and disseminating knowledge within a company. On the other hand, Slack is a real-time messaging and communication platform that enhances team collaboration and coordination. It offers features like chat channels, direct messaging, file sharing, and integration with various apps and services. Slack facilitates quick and efficient communication, promotes transparency, and supports remote teamwork. Deciding between Confluence and Slack depends on the specific needs of the team or organization, such as the focus on documentation and knowledge sharing versus real-time communication and collaboration.

See also: Top 10 Wiki software
Confluence vs Slack in our news:

2023. Atlassian brings an AI assistant to Jira and Confluence



Atlassian has introduced Atlassian Intelligence, an AI-powered 'virtual teammate' that utilizes the company's proprietary models and OpenAI's large language models to create customized teamwork graphs. This technology enables various functionalities, such as AI-generated summaries in Confluence and test plans in Jira Software, as well as the rewriting of responses to customers in Jira Service Management. Atlassian Intelligence provides users with a chatbox similar to Chat-GPT, which is deeply integrated into different products and allows for the referencing of specific documents. For instance, to generate a summary of action items from a recent meeting, users can link the document with the transcript and request the summary inside Confluence. The tool then generates a list of decisions and action items from the meeting.


2022. Slack adds persistent information layer to channels called Canvas



Slack has achieved considerable success in the enterprise realm by offering various communication options and seamless integration with common enterprise applications. However, until now, Slack has lacked a persistent way to share project-related information. While users could create channels to narrow down content and share documents, links, and other materials, finding them again required searching or extensive scrolling. Acknowledging this limitation, Slack has taken a step forward by combining the collaborative tooling of Quip with Slack's communication capabilities, resulting in a new tool called Canvas. Positioned alongside a channel's conversation stream, Canvas grants users access to a range of information, including data and charts, text, tasks, internal and external links, training videos, and more. This integration allows for a seamless experience where project-related information can be easily shared and accessed within the Slack platform.


2022. Slack gains new automation features, including conditional logic for workflows



Announcing a significant update, Slack has introduced new automation features aimed at enhancing the shareability and discoverability of workflows. Building upon the existing Workflow Builder tool launched in 2019, these latest capabilities enable users to easily send workflows to other Slack users and utilize "if-then" statements to create more advanced flows. Slack's increased focus on automation aligns with the growing popularity of no-code development tools, which empower users to build apps and pipelines without requiring programming expertise. According to a survey conducted by 451 Research and FileMaker, nearly 60% of all custom apps, including automations, are now developed outside of the IT department. Furthermore, the survey revealed that 30% of these apps are created by employees with limited or no technical development skills. This trend emphasizes the importance of providing accessible automation solutions to a broader range of users.


2022. Slack is increasing prices and changing the way its free plan works



Slack, the chat platform widely used as an online watercooler for numerous teams, is implementing changes to its pricing structure and free plan functionality. For users subscribed to the "Pro" plan on a monthly basis, the price will increase from $8 per user per month to $8.75 per user per month. Similarly, for users on the annual "Pro" plan, the price will rise from $6.67 per user per month to $7.25 per user per month. As for the free plan, Slack is modifying how messages are stored. Previously, free users had access to the last 10,000 messages and 5 GB of uploads. Going forward, message retention will be based on time rather than quantity, allowing free users to view the last 90 days' worth of messages and uploads, regardless of the volume exchanged.


2021. Salesforce announces first integrations with Slack



When Salesforce completed its acquisition of Slack towards the end of the previous year, it was evident that they had ambitious plans for the company. Today, the renowned CRM giant has unveiled the initial integrations that are set to benefit Salesforce customers. To begin with, the Sales Cloud now offers dedicated deal rooms. These rooms allow all parties involved in a complex sale, including internal departments such as finance and product teams, as well as external partners, to collaborate within Slack throughout the sales cycle. This enables them to stay updated on the fluctuations and progress of all sales activities. By leveraging Slack's capability to integrate external enterprise applications within its platform, the goal is to foster collaboration and discover methods to streamline and automate various Salesforce tasks. This ultimately results in faster and more efficient usage of Salesforce, eliminating the need to switch contexts in order to achieve desired outcomes.


2021. Slack now lets you DM employees in other companies



Slack has recently introduced a new feature that enables users of the platform to send direct messages to each other. Known as Slack Connect DMs, this functionality allows Slack users to privately communicate with individuals outside their own company. While primarily intended for companies collaborating with partners or clients, it can also be utilized to message friends employed at other companies. This new DM feature expands on Slack's existing Connect feature, which was introduced last year. Slack Connect primarily facilitates business collaboration through shared channels, and cross-organizational DMs represent the next significant aspect of Connect. To initiate a DM, users send a special link to start a conversation, and depending on your organization's Slack setup, Slack admin approval may be required.


2021. Atlassian peps up Confluence with new graphical design features



Confluence, the collaborative workspace developed by Atlassian, has been a staple knowledge-sharing tool for over 15 years, widely adopted by companies for its versatility. In its latest update, Confluence introduces several new features to enhance user experience. Users can now customize their spaces with cover images, title emojis, and personalized avatars that represent different sections of Confluence. The addition of smart links allows for seamless integration with platforms like YouTube and Trello, automatically recognizing and displaying links in their native formats. Furthermore, users can schedule the publication of new pages and convert pages into blog posts, reflecting the increasing popularity of corporate blogging within organizations, particularly for internal audiences during the pandemic.


2020. Salesforce buys Slack for $27.7B



Salesforce, the renowned CRM giant, has embarked on a monumental $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack. This substantial deal positions Salesforce in closer competition with its longtime rival and occasional ally, Microsoft, whose Teams product has been directly challenging Slack in the market. Microsoft, having previously passed on acquiring Slack for a fraction of the current purchase price, has now prioritized Teams as a key focus, determined not to concede any portion of the enterprise software market to another company. What has truly set Slack apart, particularly in its early stages, is its remarkable ability to seamlessly integrate with other enterprise software. Coupled with intelligent digital assistants known as bots, Slack has the potential to offer Salesforce customers a centralized platform where they can carry out their work without shifting focus, as virtually all their necessary tasks can be accomplished within the Slack environment.


2020. Atlassian’s Confluence gets a new template gallery



Confluence, the content-centric collaboration tool by Atlassian, is simplifying the onboarding process for new users through the introduction of an enhanced template gallery, featuring 75 additional templates. This update signifies the evolution of Confluence from a specialized wiki primarily used by technical documentation teams to a widely adopted tool utilized across various organizations. The revamped template gallery offers improved search tools, filters, and previews conveniently located in the right-hand panel of your Confluence site. These enhancements facilitate the seamless discovery of templates that are most relevant to your business needs.


2020. Slack introduces simplified interface as usage moves deeper into companies



Slack has unveiled its most significant update to date, focusing on enhancing the user experience and transforming it into a more accessible enterprise communications hub. Over the years, Slack has continuously introduced new features to meet the evolving needs of its user base. However, this has led to some interface clutter. The latest redesign aims to address this issue. In addition to a cleaner overall look, one notable feature is the ability to nest channels in the Channel sidebar, allowing for better organization. As the number of channels grows, it can become challenging to navigate through them all. With the new update, users now have the option to group their channels logically and label them for easier access and management.

Author: Adam Levine
Adam is an expert in project management, collaboration and productivity technologies, team management, and motivation. With an extensive background working at prestigious companies such as Microsoft and Accenture, Adam's in-depth knowledge and experience in the field make him a sought-after professional. Currently, he has ventured into entrepreneurship, owning a thriving consulting and training agency where he imparts invaluable insights and practical strategies to individuals and organizations, empowering them to achieve their goals and maximize their potential. You can contact Adam via email adam@liventerprise.com