August 22, 2024
Conclude Link is a leading solution for connecting Slack and Microsoft Teams. It comes with internal and external linking capabilities, allowing you to collaborate with people inside and outside your organization in a smooth, bi-directional manner.
We are often asked about the key differences between the internal and external link functionality, and this blog explains that, along with some simple use cases for both of these features.
Unlike Conclude Apps which are installed inside specific channels to carry out tasks related to issues, incidents or support ticket management, or Conclude Connect, a Slack-only external ticketing solution for clients with optional Zendesk integration, Conclude Link is focused on direct collaboration and communication between people in the same, or different, organizations.
Read: Conclude Solutions Explained: Link, Apps and Connect
Who Uses Conclude Link?
Conclude Link is suitable for both large organizations that need to communicate with others on a global or distributed level, and for smaller organizations that need to communicate with external clients. In both cases the chat programs Slack and Microsoft Teams need to be connected to ensure smooth communication.
Once signing up from our website and activating Conclude Link from the Dashboard using the toggle function, users will see two options on the sidebar: Link > Channels and Link > External. Both have the same objective – to link selected channels across different workspaces or teams, so conversations can take place.
So which one is right for your business? Below we provide some sample use cases which will help to clarify what each feature does.
External Communication Problem
Your company just landed an important new client. The client wants to limit email communication and use chat instead. This client also prefers that most communication takes place on Teams, but your organization uses Slack.
One solution is to open a Microsoft Teams account and create a team (also called a tenant), then invite your client’s team as external members to discuss your project there.
However, this creates additional challenges for your company – specifically toggling between two different chat programs with the potential to miss important communication. Not only does this increase the cognitive load, it also contributes to information silos.
Best Solution: Link > External
Setting up a Conclude Link external connection allows you to invite external users to a shared, linked channel, so both companies can communicate from their preferred platform without the need to set up a Microsoft Teams account.
After accessing the Dashboard and going to Link > External, you will be prompted to invite users by email. Once an invitation is sent and accepted, the external client can then invite the appropriate team members from their organization to the shared channel without requiring further approvals from your side.
Group chats, images and documents can be shared and synced bi-directionally inside a linked channel. With this solution, all information is now contained in one place, reducing context switching and ensuring smoother communication between you and your client.
If you are looking for an external ticketing solution from Slack, see our blog Conclude Connect: Slack and Zendesk Integration for External Support.
Internal Communication Problem
Your global company has a problem with teams that chat or do work on both Slack and Microsoft Teams – or perhaps teams that have different Slack workspaces setup within the same organization. This can also happen when one program doesn’t offer the required integrations for a team’s specific business needs (such as customer support or IT help desk tickets).
This general disconnection results in silos and communication inefficiencies across the entire organization. Whole teams can have siloed information that isn’t accessible to key stakeholders and the more silos there are, the more challenges an organization faces.
Although this is more often seen in larger companies, it can also occur during a merger or acquisition where one company has been using a different chat program to the acquiring company.
One solution is to mandate that everyone uses one messaging program only – and in theory, that should be the end of the matter. But as we have seen, this is not always the reality. Many organizations have teams that strongly prefer to use Slack (we’re looking at you IT) and this may even result in shadow messaging inside the organization.
Best Solution: Link > Channels (Internal)
Linking channels using Conclude Link is the best solution to ensure better internal cross-team communication. After creating an account with Conclude and signing in with Slack and/or Microsoft Teams, you will have access to the Dashboard.
Under Admin settings, admins can access the workspaces and teams for Slack and Microsoft Teams that they want to create links between. See our Conclude Link Quickstart Guide for more details.
In the sidebar under Link > Channels you will be asked to create a new channel link by selecting New link. After going through the process to create a new link between channels, teams will be able to communicate seamlessly between programs and access a range of functionalities. These include direct messaging and group chats, editing and deleting messages, file sharing and emojis (in text), threaded messages, @mentions and language translations.
Watch: Conclude Link: How to Connect Microsoft Teams and Slack
Connecting Different Workspaces
Admins can connect, view and manage different workspaces under Settings > Admin settings > Workspaces and these can be added or removed by simply clicking on the team name.
If a team or workspace isn’t listed, admins have the option to add a new one by clicking on Sign in with Slack to add a Slack workspace, or Sign in with Microsoft to add a Microsoft tenant.
Setting up teams and workspaces in this way is only required for the Link > Channels (internal) solution. All external connections are currently made by inviting users to the selected channel.
For example, if your organization is using Slack, you can invite Microsoft Teams users from an external organization to connect with your company in a shared channel. This doesn’t require you to add their Microsoft tenant to the Workspaces section.
We hope this blog has provided you with a deeper understanding of how the internal and external linking features work. Ready to try it out? Get started here (free for 14 days) or sign up for a demo call with one of our team members to learn more.
