Big UC News From Salesforce, Google, Wiz, and Slack

Salesforce Reportedly Institutes ‘4 to 5 Days A Week’ RTO Mandate

Salesforce has reportedly instituted a “four-to-five days a week” Return To Office (RTO) mandate for some employees.

In an update of its RTO policy, which previously empowered leaders to make “decisions for their teams about how and where they work”, Salesforce is allegedly mandating many of its employees to return to the office.

The San Francisco Standard reported that Salesforce employees received an internal email announcing the shift from remote to in-office and hybrid working will begin this autumn, on October 1.

A Salesforce spokesperson told KRON4:

Salesforce is a place where connection and relationships drive success. We believe being together in person deepens relationships, sparks innovation, fosters learning, and strengthens culture — ultimately, resulting in better business outcomes.”

The memo reported that worldwide sales, workplace services, and data centre engineering departments, as well as the onsite support technicians, will be mandated to work from the office four to five days a week starting from October 1. The remaining departments, including marketing, legal, and product teams, will be “office-flex” moving forward, meaning they will have to be in-office three days a week.

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How This Architecture Firm Brought Its Design Ingenuity To Hybrid Meeting Spaces

This week, UC Today spoke to Steve Woods, Technology Director at leading architecture and design business Gensler, about his journey, the company’s tech stack, how they leverage AI, how they overcame their hybrid work challenges, and more.

An organisation producing a successful hybrid system requires creativity, imagination, and ingenuity. If the organisation in question is Gensler, a leading architecture and design business, that’s a useful pool of in-house talent and expertise to leverage. One of the jumping-off points, from Genlser’s perspective, is deconstructing what hybrid actually means.

“One of the challenges is the word hybrid itself,” Woods said. “It’s almost like a loaded word. For some people it could mean giving permission to people to stay home when they should be in the office. Hybrid, ‘return to office’, they’re bad words. Return to what? I think that what’s been important for us is developing a new language around the work we’re doing with our clients, we’re doing with ourselves, we’re trying to imbue the space with an implied purpose.”

The conversation also touched on the use of UC and collaboration tech in architecture and design, where Woods would live vendors to prioritise their strategies, and where Gensler will invest its technology in 2024 and beyond.

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Wiz Rejects Google’s $23Bn Takeover Bid

Cybersecurity giant Wiz has rejected the $23 billion acquisition offer from Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Google was eyeing a takeover of the cloud cybersecurity startup, while the New York Times had reported that the transaction was in the advanced stages of discussion but wasn’t a sure thing by any stretch, a cautionary note vindicated by Wiz turning away from the deal this week.

Meanwhile, an internal Wiz email reportedly said: “While we are flattered by offers we have received, we have chosen to continue on our path to building Wiz.”

In a recent memo, Wiz’s Chief Executive, Assaf Rappaport, outlined the company’s ambitious goals in “building Wiz”, which include achieving $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and preparing for an initial public offering:

Saying no to such humbling offers is tough, but with our exceptional team, I feel confident in making that choice. The market validation we have experienced following this news only reinforces our goal – creating a platform that both security and development teams love.”

A $23 billion acquisition of Wiz would have been almost double Google’s previous largest acquisition when it bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2012.

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Slack Boosts Collaboration and Engagement With New iOS Widgets

Slack has unveiled new iOS app widgets to enhance worker engagement and collaboration.

Slack has introduced four new widgets to its iOS app: “Catch Up”, two versions of “Status”, and “Slack Launcher”, which allow employees to remain engaged with work wherever they are. The first three are widgets for the home screen, while the latter is designed for iOS lock screens, empowering workers to jump immediately into their workflows or projects.

“Three new Slack iOS widgets are here to make your workday a whole lot easier,” Slack posted on X. “Add the Catch Up widget, Status widget, and Slack Launcher widget to your device and stay in the know on the go.”

These solutions compound Slack’s ambition to turn its platform into an all-in-one collaboration and communications service with some of the most sophisticated feature sets on the market.

To access the latest features on Slack for iOS, users should ensure their app is updated to the newest version. Once updated, users only have to press and hold on to their Home or Lock Screen to identify and add the fresh widget options available.

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