Salesforce own slack6/18/2023 ![]() ![]() Marc Benioff, Salesforce’s chief executive, is out to take on Microsoft’s integrated suite of software tools, and that means using Slack as the glue to tie together his own company’s spreading range of software. That makes the Salesforce acquisition - the largest ever of a cloud company - such a defining moment in the SaaS business. Small groups of workers have often taken up free tools like Slack for themselves, leading their employers later on to pay for more full-featured versions of the service for all their employees. The “consumerisation” of IT has also shifted the power away from suites. Coupa, used just for tracking business spending, is worth $22bn. Okta, a way to make sure people online are who they say they are, is valued at nearly $32bn, about the same as Hilton Hotels. Need a secure way to sign a contract virtually? DocuSign is worth $42bn, more than Ford. ![]() This has given start-ups the chance to scale up. ![]() The reach of the internet has turned what were previously small software niches into sizeable markets. In a world of open APIs, or software interfaces, companies can easily tap into specialised services without buying a single bundle of software. New generations of technology are usually characterised by the rise of the former, followed by rounds of consolidation that leave a handful of the latter.įor the last few years, it has almost been possible to believe that SaaS will be different. In the parlance of business software, the deal highlights the perennial tension between “best of breed” products - standalone services that do one thing very well - and complete suites of software which integrate a range of services. This week’s $27.7bn acquisition of workplace messaging company Slack by Salesforce looks like a turning point - and not just because Slack has been emblematic of a wave of start-ups searching for new and more creative ways of working. The cloud software business - also known as software as a service, or SaaS - may just have reached its moment of reckoning. ![]()
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