Slack Expands into Australia as Dominance over the Tech Industry Continues

Slack is a name that you quite simply can't escape in the tech industry right now. For a good while now, there's been a number of online tools available, designed with remote working and communication mind. One of the most notable of those tools is undeniably Microsoft's Skype, however, Slack has completely thrown the industry on its head.

Slack is the virtual online office environment that allows team members to quickly and efficiently communicate from any device, like they're in the same room. It's gradually been picked up by a number of businesses in tech and other industries.

The service's dominance has only grown and that's something proven by their latest expansion into Australia. As of March 2016, Slack has opened its sixth global office in Melbourne, Australia. The office was opened with the attention of catering for the Asia-Pacific region, where Slack is a growing name.

The company now feels it necessary to better cater for the Asia-Pacific time zone, according to Slack's CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield when he was cutting the ribbon. With that in mind, the primary use of Slack's new premises in Australia will be to house customer service staff that can be contactable in that time zone. It's definitely a sign of Slack's dominance across the world, needing to cater for a range of different time zones.

Slack's decision to choose Melbourne in Australia as the base for their Asia-Pacific operations is likely down to how quickly the service has been adopted in the region. Australia is already home to a number of big business' that have adopted Slack as part of their day to day operations, including the likes of Seek, Isobar and REA Group. With that in mind, Slack's decision to open an operations centre in Australia is likely in order to cater for those companies and future companies adopting Slack in the country.

The opening of an Australia base for the platform comes as Slack continues to dominate across the globe, with the platform believed to have 2.3 million daily active users in 2016. That equals out at a growth in users from 2015 at about 10 fold, with the size of the average paid team also increasing by 20%. When it comes to picking up new users from Australia and across the globe, Slack is showing no sign of slowing down.

That being said, Slack is just one of many platforms currently available on the market right now, all designed with the intention of making working from home easier. Undeniably one of the most prominent of those options alongside Slack is Time Doctor. Whilst not focussing directly on communication between a team, the purpose behind Time Doctor is to allow for better time tracking for teams and freelancers.

Time Doctor is a tool that many freelancers can't live without and the fact that it can be used by a team means that it can work comfortably hand in hand with Slack.

Arguably the biggest casualty of Slack's success has been the humble old email. When it comes to office communication, email within environments like Outlook has undeniably been the go-to solution. However, Slack is built on a premise of instant messaging, much like the likes of Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. However, it's contained within a professional environment that can only be accessed by employees of that company.

Slack essentially allows for the creation of a mini social network that can be used by all within a company for instant messaging, file sharing and more. Plus, the inclusion of apps allows for easy integration when it comes to video calls and tweeting. That's all in addition to the fact that Slack can be accessed from a multitude of devices, whether it's through desktop applications on Windows and Mac, or mobile variations for continued communication on the go on Android and iOS devices.

The success of Slack is testament to the way business is changing. More and more companies are allowing their employees to work remotely and tools like Slack mean that a virtual office environment can be nearly as good as the real thing.

Slack's decision to open a sixth location in Australia shows that they're a name that's quickly spreading and providing support for their huge user base is of paramount importance. Slack is well known for its excellent levels of support that it provides, especially to users who have paid to use a premium version of the platform. With that in mind, it's easy to see why Slack would want to expand their customer service operations to cater to those in the Asia-Pacific time zone, whilst also looking to expand their user-base over there.

There's no slowing Slack down now, they're quickly eradicating the need for actual office space and showing that virtual can do the job just as well.