Microsoft Teams has been getting all the good press in recent months. The platform is outperforming rival Slack. However, Slack has scored a major new contract and interestingly it is with a long-time Microsoft partner.
According to Business Insider, IBM has selected Slack to be the workplace chat across its organization. In doing so, the tech giant has instantly become Slack's largest customer.
The situation certainly helps Slack in its push against Microsoft Teams. It's always worth remembering that Slack vs. Microsoft is a very much a David vs. Goliath situation.
Microsoft is a major multi-tech giant that does not rely on Teams. Furthermore, Microsoft Teams is integrated directly into Office 365 so automatically reaches tens of millions of users. Slack on the other hand is a startup that is confined only to the work collaboration market.
We have seen over the last two years how Microsoft's resources have helped Teams surpass Slack in terms of daily active users.
Microsoft has been basking in the glory of Teams success. The company confirmed the platform has over 20 million Daily Active Users (DAUs). This number is significantly higher than Slack's 12 million. However, Slack quickly refuted Microsoft's numbers as not as impressive as they seem. Later, a CNBC survey has found Microsoft Teams is used twice as much as Slack.
Resurgent
When Microsoft revealed its user number, Slack's stock plummeted by 11%. However, the news of IBM's adoption of Slack has had the opposite effect, with the company's stock price surging by 21% today.
It is worth pointing out IBM has been using Slack since 2014, so not much will change other than an official relationship.
