Share to lead the transformation

Salesforce buys Slack to expand its cloud footprint

by | Dec 3, 2020 | ,

Enterprise software major Salesforce announced today that it is acquiring workplace chatting app Slack in a massive $27.7 billion cash and stock deal. As part of the agreement, Slack shareholders will receive $26.79 in cash and 0.0776 shares of Salesforce common stock against each Slack share. Salesforce is buying Slack to meet the new digital transformation demands of enterprises.

For unversed, Slack is the workplace collaboration software used by organizations as an email alternative. By far, this acquisition is the largest in Salesforce’s two-decades-long history, exceeding its Tableau software purchase, which was estimated at $15.7 billion. Once the transaction is complete, Slack will become an operational unit of Salesforce and continue to be run by the CEO Stewart Butterfield, popularly known as Flickr co-founder.

As Covid-19 cases surge, businesses are re-architecting how they are working and communicating with customers, users, and employees. For organizations, collaborative tools and solutions have become essential in ensuring business continuity and providing an exceptional experience for a growing distributed workforce. That’s what sparked Salesforce’s attention for Slack. (See: How is digital transformation shaping the new future?)

For Salesforce, the most exciting aspect of the purchase is to link its Customer 360 tool with Slack Connect. Salesforce Customer 360 tool enables businesses to connect Salesforce apps and create a unified customer ID to get a complete overview of the customer.

Slack currently has over 70,000 paying customers that are using Slack Connect.

Transformative approach

Slack was first designed for internal office communication. It then became one of the most popular messaging and collaborative tools for virtual meetings, focusing on making it easy for employees to get essential information at a glance. Today, it offers easy instant messaging, rapid file sharing, and integrations with many top-notch services.

Slack’s technology engine allows developers to add the Slack API to their existing ecosystem or merge with various other tools through integration. The most significant advantage Slack boasts about today is its ability to integrate more than 2,400 diverse apps that people use to work together and connect.

With the acquisition, through its cloud-based platform, Salesforce aims to create and provide workspace apps to connect customers in a whole new way. The CRM major is hugely optimistic that the amalgamation will create the broadest open ecosystem of apps and workflows for organizations and allow millions of developers to develop the next generation of apps, using clicks instead of code.

Marc Benioff, Chief Executive Officer of Salesforce, seems to be so thrilled about the deal that he has declared the acquisition as a match made in paradise. “This is a match made in heaven. Together, Salesforce and Slack will shape enterprise software’s future and transform how everyone works in the all-digital, work-from-anywhere world. I’m thrilled to welcome Slack to the Salesforce Ohana once the transaction closes,” Benioff said in a press release.

Face to face with Microsoft

In 2021, cloud technology will continue to play a pivotal role in driving business for most organizations. The focus will be on integrating new technologies and analytics to link people and data across systems, applications, and devices. Salesforce is preparing to address these needs faced by commercial enterprises in today’s digital universe and maintain pace with its rival Microsoft. (See: Technology trends for businesses in 2020)

Slack’s buyout is an effort by Salesforce to beef-up the communication apps ecosystem. The purchase of Slack Technologies will enable Salesforce to compete head-to-head with Microsoft Teams, the industry leader in the enterprise communication space, and Cisco Webex.

Over the past few years, Microsoft Teams has achieved several new improvements and achieved substantial growth, primarily since it integrates well with the MS Office 365 subscription productivity package with the Azure Cloud. (See: Online project management tools: Top office suite analysis)

Even in the CRM software space, where Salesforce’s Sales Cloud has been leading for a long time, Microsoft is making rapid progress. Microsoft’s Dynamics platform appears like a serious threat to the supremacy of Salesforce. Businesses that are already running plenty of Microsoft tools mostly prefer the Dynamics platform because of their quick integration.

Salesforce seems to have also sensed the urgency to expand its horizons into the collaboration software space, which has become lucrative amidst the COVID-19 turmoil. The Slack buy will also help Salesforce take a quantum leap in meeting its customers’ new transformation needs.

“As software plays a more and more critical role in the performance of every organization, we share a vision of reduced complexity, increased power and flexibility, and ultimately a greater degree of alignment and organizational agility. I believe this is the most strategic combination in the history of software, and I can’t wait to get going,” says Stewart Butterfield, Slack CEO and Cofounder, in a statement.

The Slack buy came after Salesforce had put a lot of effort into creating its enterprise collaboration tool, Chatter, in 2009, and very recently, Salesforce Anywhere with limited success.

 

Google Task Mate to unlock new ways of working

by | Nov 25, 2020 | ,

Google has released the beta version of Task Mate, a new crowdsourced work app to help users earn money by accomplishing tasks through their smartphones. Google Task Mate is presently available to selected Indian and Kenyan users through a referral code system.

The tasks listed in the Google Task Mate seem to be very minuscule, such as writing a pronounced sentence, transcribing sentences displayed by companies, taking photos of a nearby restaurant for google map improvement, or confirming specific local details. The scope, however, is likely to be expanded upon the formal launch of the application.

The Google Task Mate assignments are split into two parts: sitting and fieldwork. The app will allow users to find jobs close by and perform them based on user interests and knowledge. Each task will have pay potential and timelines to be met.

It is an exciting development and can open a new growth opportunity for the world’s leading internet company.

At first glance, the app may resemble the already existing Google Rewards app that lets users earn money by answering survey questions. However, this app is different from Google Reward in an environment where tasks could be diverse in nature. Users will have more opportunities to identify and earn money based on their knowledge and interest. Also, each task’s compensation will be credited via a digital payment platform on user accounts and not necessarily in the form of app store credits.

Creating new possibilities

The recent pandemic has led to massive layoffs, job cuts, and company closures in all sectors and industries. The impact is so significant that many economists predict that the economic recovery may take up to two years.

As the country is proving hard to recuperate from the pandemic, and businesses are discovering ways to stay profitable amidst uncertainty, many organizations have begun to move from offering full-time traditional jobs to multiple gigs.  The market for temporary assignments and freelancers is growing, and businesses also prefer a project-based workforce to save along the associated benefits and costs.

The rapid digital transformation wave and the growing culture of working remotely have given the self-employed a greater impetus (See: How is the digital transformation shaping the new future? and Tech majors extend work-from-home to keep pandemic at bay)

Apps like Google Task Mate can be an asset in a fast-paced remote-work ecosystem. At present, the app features short-assignments from Google or one of its businesses and offers minimal revenue potential. However, this testing seems to be a plan for a bigger strategy in the future. (See: Online project management tools: Top office suite analysis)

Online independent contractors marketplaces such as Fiverr, Freelancer, and Upwork make great strides due to their global reach and excellent business strategy. With Google’s reach in mind, Task Mate has enormous potential to disrupt the marketplace and facilitate connections between freelancers and organizations for any gig-related requirements. It can provide a new source of income alternative to Google as well. It is unclear when the application will be rolled out in other markets.

 

Twitter hires Rinki Sethi as CISO to keep hackers at bay

by | Sep 30, 2020 |

Micro-blogging giant, Twitter, hires Rinki Sethi, an ex-IBM executive, as its new Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).  The San Francisco-based executive has last worked with Rubrik, a cloud data management company in the capacity of VP and CISO.

Sethi has extensive experience in leading and developing online infrastructure for tech majors such as IBM and Palo Alto Networks. Sethi will manage enterprise risk, security risk, application security, and detection & response efforts in her new office.

Sethi has also served on the advisory council for SecureWorld, one of North America’s major cybersecurity conferences, for over six years.

What makes this announcement significant?

The announcement of Twitter’s new CISO has come at a time when most of the social media platforms are facing substantial scrutiny because of the amplified security breaches and user abuse.

In July this year, the micro-blogging major received severe criticism from many countries because of its inability to preclude a major cyber hack. The company reported a breach when cyber criminals gained unauthorized access to its systems to hack the high-profile Twitter accounts of many famous people, leaders, and influential personalities.

The hacked accounts were used to trap many naïve followers who were tricked into transferring Bitcoins to specific wallets by offering massive returns.

The list of compromised accounts included former US President Barack Obama, media personality Kim Kardashian, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Early this month, a similar incident repeated when cybercriminals hacked the twitter account of Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India.

Skills shortage a big concern

The IT industry has unanimous concerns about the scarcity of trained cybersecurity professionals in the marketplace.

A recent report commissioned by the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) professionals, reveals that over 70% of governing bodies are putting their operations at risk due to lack of robust cybersecurity talent at the administration. 

The severe shortage in cybersecurity talent is a global problem. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have taken Twitter over nine months to fill the position of CISO leadership role, which had been lying vacant after Mike Convertino, who left the high-profile job in December 2019 to begin his venture.

In the growing work-from-home environment scenario, enterprises need to take speedy steps to beef-up their security policies and infrastructure to fit the growing work-from-home environment. However, if the shortage of trained information security professionals continues to persist for a longer time, it can derail enterprises’ digital transformation efforts, eventually blocking agility and business resiliency. 

Vodafone wins tax battle against India

by | Sep 25, 2020 | ,

British Telecom giant Vodafone Group Plc has won an international arbitration case against the Indian government in Rs. 22,100 crore tax dispute.

An international arbitration tribunal ordered that India’s penalty of tax liability on Vodafone was a breach of fair treatment under a bilateral investment protection treaty.

The telecom company entered a tax controversy in India over Hutchison Essar Telecom services buy in April 2007. The Indian government levied a Rs 7,990 crore in capital gains taxes (Rs 22,100 crore post interest and penalty) on Vodafone, citing that the transaction involved purchasing assets in an Indian company, which Vodafone contested.

It is worth recalling that the Supreme Court, India’s apex court body, had also quelled the government’s tax demand from Vodafone in 2012. Later, the Indian government made amendments in the law, making Vodafone liable again for the taxes.

Post the center’s decision to impose a tax liability on it, Vodafone filed an International Arbitration in Singapore. In India, Vodafone amalgamated its operations with Idea Cellular a couple of years back, but the joint entity VI is fronting a $7.8 billion bill in past statutory dues.

At this juncture, this ruling ended the decade-long tax clash between India and the Vodafone Group. The details of the arbitral award are yet to be made public.

What is the matter?

The issue goes back to February 2007, when the Dutch associate of the Vodafone Group, Vodafone International Holdings (VIH) B.V, acquired a controlling 67% stake in the Indian telecom firm Hutchison Essar Limited (HEL) for $11 bn. The transaction transpired through CGP Investments (Holding) Ltd (CGP Ltd.), a Cayman Islands Company, whose 100% shares were purchased by VIH.

At that time,  the Indian authorities slapped a capital gains tax on Vodafone, including a penalty, saying that the indirect transfer of HEL shares, an Indian company, was a fixed arrangement to evade taxes. Vodafone, on the other hand, contested the demand by replying that the transaction between HTIL and VIH did not include the transfer of any capital asset. 

The matter arrived at the Supreme Court of India, which ruled in favor of Vodafone. Quite surprisingly, soon after the verdict, the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed an amendment bill in India’s upper house, introducing retrospective revisions that went back to 1962.

It would be exciting to see if the Indian government accepts the ruling or avail the options of approaching the High Court of Singapore to contest the judgment. The Singapore tribunal, though, has not accepted Vodafone’s claim of award of damages.

A big boost to VI India ambitions

The arbitration win has strengthened Vodafone-Idea’s( VI) India growth plans. Soon after the win, the shares of VI saw a nearly 15 percent jump at National Stock Exchange (NSE).

The joint entity has recently refreshed its brand identity to invigorate its prospects in the domestic market. (Vodafone Idea Ltd: Could rebranding change the future?)

It appears like 2020 has been quite blessed for VI as far as its India’s ambitions are concerned. Many industry onlookers projected VI’s downfall in India at the beginning of this year due to cutthroat competition with Airtel and RJIO and Vodafone’s growing debt. However, Vodafone-Idea rejuvenated itself after getting a respite from India’s Supreme Court, which provided Vodafone a stretched time frame of 10 years to pay Rs.25000 crores AGR dues it owes to the Indian government.

The company is now looking forward to beef-up its 4G technology and strengthen network coverage and capacity to improve its market share in India.