Slack is launching Slackforce Surfaces, a feature that allows teams to build interactive reports, dashboards, and other tools directly within chat conversations using AI to gather and visualize relevant data from apps like Google Drive and Salesforce.
- Build interactive reports and dashboards inside Slack chats.
- AI-powered Slackbot gathers data from conversations and connected apps.
- Available to all Slack customers with Slackbot enabled starting October.
What happened
Slack announced Slackforce Surfaces, an innovative feature enabling users to create interactive reports, dashboards, polls, and presentations directly inside Slack chat threads. By interacting with Slackbot, users can specify their needs, prompting Slackbot’s AI to pull and aggregate relevant data from conversations and external apps like Google Drive or Salesforce.
Once produced, these interactive 'Surfaces' can be shared with teammates, pinned to channels, and made available for collaboration through viewing and commenting. This capability eliminates the need to export data to separate apps for visualization, keeping workflows focused within Slack.
Why it matters
Slackforce Surfaces enhances team productivity by consolidating communication, data gathering, and visualization into one platform. This integration simplifies the creation of dynamic content such as live customer support dashboards or thematic financial forecasts that draw live data from connected applications, facilitating real-time insights and collaboration.
This development extends Slackbot’s role beyond summarizing messages and scheduling to actively creating actionable data presentations, reducing friction and context-switching for teams. Making these features available to all Slack users, including free-tier customers, broadens access to AI-powered collaboration tools.
What to watch next
Slackforce Surfaces will enable live data usage starting in October, so early user adoption and feedback will be critical to understanding how the feature fits diverse workflows. Observers should watch for how teams leverage these interactive elements to improve decision-making and engagement within Slack channels.
Additionally, security and privacy will be important to monitor as the AI accesses data across apps. Slack’s commitment to only use information explicitly permitted by users will be scrutinized as adoption grows and organizations consider it for sensitive operational data.