Slack lets colleagues who don’t use the service reply by email

Slack will build in a feature later this year that allows people within a company who do not use the service to still have conversations via Slack. Replies are then done via email and the answers come directly to users in a chat conversation.

The function to send emails from Slack and get replies in Slack is only possible if the administrator has allowed it for those users, The Verge reports. As a result, when active, the position only works within organizations. According to the tech site, Slack’s next step is to make e-mail as a way of communication superfluous.

Users can find non-users of the service via the normal search function and address them via an @ command. They then receive the message in the mail, so that they can reply directly. Those replies end up in a Slack conversation as the next message.

Slack is also working on a Workflow Builder that should be released later this year. That way people should be able to create simple programs for Slack without having to use code. This makes it possible, for example, to welcome new employees with customized messages or to conduct a simple survey. In addition, Slack has started integrating calendar features, something the company announced two weeks ago.