Abdelrahman
Overview
On Wednesday morning, Slack, the popular workplace messaging platform, faced significant service disruptions, prompting over 3,000 users to report issues on DownDetector.
The Slack app icon appears on a computer screen, Wednesday, Dec 2, 2020, in Tokyo.
Essential Updates
At 10:27 a.m. EST, Slack’s technical dashboard first noted issues, preventing users from connecting or loading the platform.
By 11:50 a.m. EST, approximately 2,800 users had reported challenges accessing Slack, down from a peak of 3,100 users earlier at around 11:35 a.m.
At 11:08 a.m. EST, Slack communicated that its team was “working to restore functionality to affected features,” acknowledging that certain workflows were also experiencing problems.
In its update at 11:56 a.m. EST, Slack reiterated its commitment to restoring affected features and promised to keep users informed as progress develops.
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Which Slack Features Are Affected?
As of 11:30 a.m. EST, Slack’s status dashboard indicated that users were experiencing issues with logging in, messaging, connectivity, app integrations, and workflows. However, there were no reported troubles with notifications, searches, huddles, workspace administration, or canvases during that time.
Background Information
Slack, a cloud-based messaging platform, is owned by Salesforce, which completed its acquisition of the platform in 2020. With over 200,000 paid customers, Slack operates in more than 150 countries. Launched in late 2013, it was initially envisioned by Stewart Butterfield, who had previously contributed to the creation of the photo-sharing app Flickr. The idea for Slack emerged as a pivot from an earlier project, a multiplayer online game called Glitch, which was discontinued in 2012 in favor of developing a messaging tool for professional environments.
Significant Figure
$27.7 billion. This was the acquisition price Salesforce paid for Slack in late 2020, representing its largest purchase to date.
Additional Resources
Is Slack Down? Issues Reported with Messaging App (AL.com)
Slack: What The $27.7 Billion Deal Means For The Cloud And Salesforce.com (Forbes)
