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Summary
- Slack offers US federal agencies a 90% discount on Enterprise Grid and a 70% discount on the AI add-on.
- The partnership between Slack and the US government aims to improve efficiency through real-time communication backed by AI.
- The GSA’s initiative aims to save taxpayer money by securing quality tools like Slack at discounted prices.
Slack is a rather popular cloud-based team communication platform, owned by Salesforce, and the company has confirmed (via Techradar) that it is discounting Slack Enterprise Grid by 90% for US federal agencies, with a 70% discount for Slack’s AI add-on. The US General Services Administration (GSA) has posted about the cost-saving deal on its website, noting that Slack’s use by the government may very well help to streamline communication and decision making, all while saving the taxpayer some money, which sure sounds like a win-win.
Slack’s tackling government efficiency with real-time communication backed by AI
While offering a tidy savings to boot
Source: Slack
Let’s be real here. If there is one thing the US government isn’t known for, it’s efficiency. From dealing with the DMV to the Post Office, things are pretty bleak out there on a regular basis; about as inefficient as things can get. So, when Salesforce and the GSA team up to secure Slack subscriptions for US government agencies at a 90% discount, you have to wonder if Slack has what it takes to wrangle the mess that is our federal government.
The idea is that the use of Slack will “help transform government operations by providing a secure, FedRAMP-authorized work operating system that accelerates decision-making and unifies agencies,” which certainly sounds like a fine idea, using Slack like the private sector has for ages to streamline communication of large teams.
Of course, the goal of the GSA is to secure quality tools at the best pricing possible, and it’s certainly looking like a 90% discount until November 30, 2025, is a fine way to save some money while putting Slack to the test in the public sector. This is part of a larger initiative by the GSA known as the OneGov Strategy, one that Adobe, Google, and Microsoft have also taken part in, offering the US government discounts on their wares.
At the end of the day, a government that works to secure discounts to save the taxpayer money on the services it uses is much preferred to one that spends $115 on a single screw, perhaps finally putting the old meme that government spending on contracts is out of control.
