Slack has introduced a new spontaneous audio feature designed to replicate in-office interactions.
Slack Huddles let users start instant voice meetings with other users in a channel, with the intention of substituting chance encounters in an office hallway or kitchen.
Huddles can be started by clicking an icon in the bottom left corner of the Slack window, with users given the choice of whether to join or not.
Slack Chief Product Officer, Tamar Yehoshua, said: “Huddles is a lightweight, audio-first way of communicating in Slack.
“Huddles recreate the spontaneous and serendipitous interactions that happened outside of scheduled meetings
“Everyone in the channel is free to come in and out as they please, as if you see people congregating in a conference room and you just stick your head in and then leave when you’re ready to leave, or it’s like tapping somebody on the shoulder when you see them working at their desk, or a casual hallway conversation”
Huddles are usable in a channel or direct message thread, including with users in other organisations. Users are also able to share their screen.
The feature is being rolled out to paid teams this week.
Slack has also announced new video features designed to increase the use of asynchronous communication methods. Users will soon be able to record and share video, audio messages via Slack.
These messages can be viewed by the members of the channel at any time, with messages automatically transcribed and archived. The new features will be rolled out to paid teams over “the coming months”, Slack said.
Huddles and the multimedia messages mentioned above will all be compatible with another new feature that will let users schedule messages in advance.
In a third announcement, Slack revealed Slack Atlas, which sees the technology acquired with start-up Rimeto integrated with the main platform. Atlas lets organisations build in-depth profiles and directories of employees to give other users more context of who they’re working with.
Atlas is currently available to a select group of customers but will be made more generally available over the comings months.
The three announcements are part of Slack’s campaign to reposition itself as a “virtual HQ”.
Speaking during a virtual launch event, Slack CEO, Stewart Butterfield, said: “I think one of the realisations we’ve had is that we’re moving, or we actually have already moved, from a world where digital technologies kind of supplement the in-person means that we have to communicate and collaborate, to the in-person, supplementing the digital, and that means digital-first.
“Ideally we get to a place where we transcend the location of people because we end up with something that’s a lot like a virtual HQ.
“So, instead of asking how many times a week people will be in the office, we’ll ask to what degree an organisation has put digital tools and technology at the forefront and to what extent it has started thinking about that software which supports productivity and collaboration being as important as their physical offices…”
