Irwin Lazar, president and principal analyst at Metrigy, believes Slack customers will find value in using Slack AI to summarize conversations and improve the ability to search and surface information within chats.
“Our research shows that about 86% of companies are willing to purchase generative AI assistants/copilots for at least some users, though most have not yet determined measurable benefit,” he said.
For companies that use Slack intensively, the $10 a month per user license fee is “a bit easier to swallow”than more expensive genAI products, such as the $30 a month fee for Microsoft 365 Copilot, he said.
Cheaper options for genAI assistants are starting to appear, too. This includes the $20 Copilot Pro from Microsoft, and a recently introduced Google Workplace “add-on” that provides access to genAI features for its Meet video conferencing and Chat messaging apps. This, like Slack AI, costs $10 per user a month, and forgoes access to genAI features in the wider Workspace productivity suite in favor of features targeted specifically at collaboration. (Google also offers $20 and $30 per user/month subscriptions to its Gemini AI assistant.)
The appearance of lower-priced genAI options likely reflects “the need to monetize a service that can be onerous for vendors to provide,” said Raúl Castañón, senior research analyst at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence.
This can be good news for customers, he said. A growing range of payment options means business can opt to provide a full set of genAI features to those employees more likely to use them extensively in their day-to-day work, while providing a cheaper option for a wider user base to accelerate adoption, he said, and avoiding the risk of leaving behind a substantial number of workers.
