3 ms·

Thing is, Slack makes it far too easy for orgs to use it for free. I work at a megacorp, and we use Slack without paying a single penny. We have a Slack accou

Thing is, Slack makes it far too easy for orgs to use it for free. I work at a megacorp, and we use Slack without paying a single penny. We have a Slack account setup per project, which typically have 5-50 members. We don't care too much about search or history, we just want a simple chat and audio call solution that isn't horrible to use. Slack fits that bill. To be clear, this doesn't sit well with me; we should be paying for a service we make good use of - but Slack makes it so damn easy for us to get away with it! Maybe this is part of some long-term strategy, to basically give it away until it becomes ubiquitous, and then scale back the free tier?

unphased 7y ago
I feel like that is an outlier. For most companies the benefits of having all the data logged is worth the cost.
- propogandist 7y ago
  It was GDPR and data privacy that wrangled the megacorp I know to kill all channels and workspaces that seemed affiliated with megacorp with help from Legal... until then everyone was making and using slacks free tier. It's still used to communicate with people outside megacorps SSO environment. Most users don't know nor care about the paid tier, especially if CHQ isn't footing the bill and the cost for each user license is passed to a business unit or department (which can be how megacorps are setup). The change over was funded by corporate and it's becoming the standard form of comms in the enterprise.
- GordonS 7y ago
  Unless a deal is done at the corporate level to get access for all users, at large orgs, it's not just the cost - it's the internal purchasing process. In short, if I was to buy software or pay for a SaaS, it's very, very difficult to do so. I have to raise requests in our service desk, and constantly battle with them for months (yes, months) to reopen the tickets they invariably close without comment, and spend time chasing random VPs to approve something they have no idea about. In short, I'd rather chop a leg off than waste so many frustrating hours on it.

unphased 7y ago

I feel like that is an outlier. For most companies the benefits of having all the data logged is worth the cost.

propogandist 7y ago
It was GDPR and data privacy that wrangled the megacorp I know to kill all channels and workspaces that seemed affiliated with megacorp with help from Legal... until then everyone was making and using slacks free tier. It's still used to communicate with people outside megacorps SSO environment. Most users don't know nor care about the paid tier, especially if CHQ isn't footing the bill and the cost for each user license is passed to a business unit or department (which can be how megacorps are setup). The change over was funded by corporate and it's becoming the standard form of comms in the enterprise.
GordonS 7y ago
Unless a deal is done at the corporate level to get access for all users, at large orgs, it's not just the cost - it's the internal purchasing process. In short, if I was to buy software or pay for a SaaS, it's very, very difficult to do so. I have to raise requests in our service desk, and constantly battle with them for months (yes, months) to reopen the tickets they invariably close without comment, and spend time chasing random VPs to approve something they have no idea about. In short, I'd rather chop a leg off than waste so many frustrating hours on it.