Building on its success as a project management app, Slack is moving beyond its project style platform to bring larger scale organisation to big companies.

Beefed up security

In what is being called the Slack Enterprise Grid, companies with hundreds of thousands of employees, with stricter compliance guidelines, will be able to manage Slack at scale.

The Slack Enterprise Grid brings the app’s familiar search and direct messaging interface to a larger framework, along with the addition of shared channels between unlimited workspaces.

Slack’s foray into larger scale adoption is made possible due to added regulatory approvals. Enterprises such as Pay Pal, IBM, and Capital One have been utilising the advanced platform for months.

Premium service must compete with free

According to Slack CEO and co-founder Noah Weiss, the company is expecting approximately $150 million in annual revenue, thanks to 38,000 paying companies.

However, this also brings them to a new plateau, shoulder to shoulder with Microsoft and Facebook.

Microsoft Team is already utilised by major companies across all industries due to its accessibility at a zero price point.

Slack will have to demonstrate its versatility in a fairly saturated market, that said, brand loyalty may provide Slack Enterprise Grid a boost, as many start-ups are already accustomed to the Slack interface. Time will tell.