Contact us Salesforce and Slack, Fully Connected
By connecting between Slack and Salesforce, it allows for partial uses such as tracking Opportunity status changes, notifications in Slack when a new Opportunity is created, or pinning a message from Slack to Salesforce. Salesforce added several new extensions for Slack in Summer Release ’22, which are also covered in a previous blog post.
There is a company on the market, Centro, which has a large interconnection that could already be considered a full-fledged interconnection. Salesforce itself is also trying to achieve full integration between Slack and Salesforce, and is gradually expanding the Slack connection with updates, but they’re not done yet.
Centro can connect standard objects, custom objects, existing processes in Salesforce, and accelerate collaboration with Slack. Centro provides connections between Slack and Salesforce that are not supported in the standard Salesforce app for Slack.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at the main features of Centro and how they make work easier for users from a Slack environment and from a Salesforce environment.
Slack conversations in Salesforce
Pinning messages from Slack is enabled by the standard Slack app for Salesforce, but Centro also provides a thread-wide connection to Salesforce. It’s then possible to communicate directly from Salesforce to Slack and from Slack to Salesforce in real time! This connection makes using Slack so beneficial that using Chatter is unnecessary.
Centro provides a Linked Conversation component in Salesforce that can be placed anywhere on the layout. Once placed, you can set up a link to an existing Slack channel or create a new one.
This component also allows you to invite users to the channel. So there’s no need to go into Slack first, create a channel, add users, and then go back into Salesforce. Another advantage is that even if the conversation is archived in Slack, you can still see the history of the conversation on that record. Sharing attachments via the Centro component in Salesforce is also a beneficial feature, which will then show up in the Slack conversation as well.
Salesforce Flow
Centro also provides 10 flow elements that provide modularity for creating custom processes. Created flows with elements from Centro can thus be incorporated into the system as if they were already there by default.
With the Centro extension installed, sample flows are also available. These flows are inactive and can be activated and used if needed. They can also serve as inspiration for creating your own flow-outs.
From Slack
Not only does Centro have the ability to create and access records, but also to update records in Salesforce directly from Slack. There’s a Workflow Builder to set up in Slack that works similarly to Salesforce Flow. For Slack as well, Centro provides elements that can be configured as needed.
When displaying a Salesforce record in Slak, you can display up to 10 fields of that record. It also provides the ability to display the record data differently for internal and external users. Everyone can see the information they need.
You can also enable to add a standard button to create new records for users, which is then displayed in each block. It is also possible to add custom buttons that are created for the object in this way.
There is a Submit Salesforce form component for creating records from Slack. It’s similar to Web-to-Case, but more elegant and practical. This can be applied to both standard objects and custom objects. This saves the user from having to go into Salesforce and then back into Slack. The Salesforce record is created almost instantly, and when the record is linked to a chat in Slack, that chat is automatically linked to Salesforce as well and will be further synced.
To perform the aforementioned tasks, you need to use Slack Workflow Builder, which is available for the paid version of Slack Pro and above.
As for editing Slack records, you can edit anything. For example, when you open a record for editing, you can edit all the field types that can also be edited in Slack while the record is being edited.
Summary
Centro provides a great range of uses when connecting Slack and Salesforce. Compared to the standard extension to connect the two platforms, Centro is way ahead of the game. The big advantage is that almost everything can be done in Slack without having to go into Salesforce. You need at least the Slack Pro version to use it to its full potential. Also, the module from Centro is paid, where the price is $25/month/user for the standard version and $45/month/user for the business version.
It provides even more functionality that has not been mentioned, and also extends its capabilities, so the price for these services is commensurate with the quality of this module. There is also a trial version where you can try Centro. If you’re looking for a better connection between Slack and Salsforce than the standard app, then Centro is a hot candidate for you.
Ján Petráš, CRM Consultant
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