The Slack collaboration tool will play a key role for businesses in successfully negotiating the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. 

Slack has gained a leading position in the Coronavirus theme, according to the latest Thematic Scorecard for the application software sector.

The collaboration software vendor gained the highest Thematic score (5 out of 5) for the Coronavirus theme. A Thematic score of 5 out of 5 indicates that the company’s competitive position in this theme will significantly improve its future performance.

Slack recently overhauled its platform with a redesign intended to offer a much cleaner navigation experience of the app’s user interface. The redesign is timely for businesses needing to get dispersed home-bound individuals working together as teams in the context of COVID-19.

GlobalData recently published a fully revised report, ‘Tech, Media & Telecom Trends 2020’ to reflect the impact of COVID-19 on 17 separate TMT sectors, including application software. Its analysis provides insight into the impact of COVID-19 on leading companies, as well as the impact of COVID-19 across 17 different technology sectors. It discusses the short- and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on each sector, and ranks on a company-by-company basis the individual impact of COVID-19 alongside nine other themes that affect that sector. All sectors will be negatively impacted, with IT Services recording the bleakest long-term outlook.

Stuart Ravens, Chief Analyst Thematic Research at GlobalData, says: “The application software market will be at the mercy of the global economy. If China is a bellwether for the rest of the world, then economies will significantly slow for a quarter, before a long slog back to normality.

“Costs will be stripped out of businesses, and all non-essential spend will be either cut or delayed. All IT projects that can be shelved will be shelved until at least 2021. Software vendors must prepare for a tough year where very little net new business will be won before the final quarter. Slack’s collaboration software is one of the few ‘winners’ from COVID-19.

“The biggest losers will be software companies selling into those industries most at risk from the immediate impact of COVID-19. These include non-food retail, insurance, travel and tourism, and real estate.”