Enterprise data platform integrates with Slack
All too often business communication and data are separate. This means that if you need to refer to something while chatting with a colleague you have to break off and open another application to do so.
In order to make data more accessible and collaboration easier, business analytics specialist Looker is announcing a new data platform that integrates with the popular Slack communication tool.
Called Lookerbot, it seeks to make enterprise collaboration more efficient by bringing real-time data into any conversation in Slack, eliminating the need to shuffle through applications looking for information.
"Data has been something people do out-of-cycle. Data needs to be part of the conversation, no matter where it's happening," says Frank Bien, CEO of Looker. "The world is moving on from the current swath of business intelligence tools that simply report a view of the past in a kludgy user interface. Accessing current data in collaboration tools like Slack helps everyone make better business decisions, faster. Looker's data platform makes these conversations possible".
Lookerbot is built using Looker's API and SDK and is one of many integrations built on the data platform. Users enter a simple command in Slack and Lookerbot returns the answer within the Slack conversation. The data is displayed in Slack as it appears in Looker with a complete array of visualization types (charts, maps, and tables), including custom visualizations and colors.
Michael Erasmus, Data Analytics Lead at Buffer says, "Buffer is a distributed company so Slack is basically our office. The majority of our work lives in Slack. Having Looker, one of our most critical tools, integrate into every conversation in Slack is incredibly powerful. It means that when decisions are being made at every stage of our process, we have data at our fingertips, improving transparency and collaboration".
More information about using Looker with Slack is available on the company's website.