Slack is a widely used communications and integrations application designed for teams and businesses. This month, Slack are releasing a new feature that enables users to directly communicate with external partners called ‘Slack Connect DM’.

Previously, users at different organisations would have needed to connect via a Slack channel to send messages to each other. Soon, users will be able to send an invite to external contacts via email for them to accept, and then they will be able to send private direct messages.

Slack has announced early access to this feature for admins before the feature is fully released to all users. Admins are now able to set who in their organisation can send or accept Slack Connect DM invitations. To do so, in Slack, click your workspace name in the top left, select Settings & administration from the menu, then click Workspace settings or click here for direct access.

Opening up Slack for more external comms is likely due to the competition from Microsoft’s Teams application, which is a direct competitor to Slack, and has recently also started opening up from an internally focused service to one that works with guests and external partners (e.g. suppliers, clients, etc) as well.