Microsoft Teams users will be able to make calls in Slack

Corporate messenger Slack announced works on the integration of the Microsoft Teams call option into the application. This innovation will allow users of both competing corporate services to call each other without the need to stick to one specific application. The corresponding statement was made by Slack CEO Stuart Butterfield.

The exact scheme of call integration is unknown, but Slack already has similar experience — last year the company simplified the use of Microsoft Office 365 tools through its application. In particular, calendar and Outlook mail were integrated into Slack; access to OneDrive cloud storage was also provided. The integration was performed using Microsoft’s public APIs without any close cooperation between the companies themselves.

At the moment, it is unknown when the call exchange function between Slack and Microsoft Teams will become available. It is also unclear whether the companies will cooperate directly this time.

A full-fledged cooperation between the two platforms would be a unique event, since there is quite a fierce competition between them. Last year, Microsoft Teams surpassed Slack in the number of daily active users, and this month it has grown to 44 million. Slack also announced its new record last week — 12.5 million people used the application at the same time. Such a sharply increased level of demand for working online platforms is due to the coronavirus pandemic — a huge number of people around the world suddenly found themselves forced to work from home through corporate applications.