What is Zapier?

The post shares how 13 companies on their use of Zapier to connect their work apps together. At Stampede, we use a number of these apps on a daily basis due to the remote nature of our workplace, so an automation service like Zapier helps by optimizing the work process. The platform currently supports over 500 apps meaning that many combination of automated process flows can be created.

How does it work?

By all means, Zapier isn’t as complicated as you might think. How it works is that you can connect apps together to create a process flow, this is called a Zap. For example, you can tell Zapier to notify you on a specific Slack channel if a new message is posted on Basecamp. Once you get good at it, you can start doing really advanced flows like creating filters so that Zapier will only notify you after certain conditions are met. For example, if Google Analytics hits a page view milestone of 10,000 users, a message on Slack will be posted as a notification.

How we use Zapier at Stampede

At Stampede uses these apps to automate and channel tasks into Slack. If we didn’t do so, we’d have to manually transfer details from one app to another. For example, if one of our clients were to post a new task on Basecamp, we’d get an email notification, but we’d also still have to go to Basecamp and move the details manually onto Slack. Zapier eliminates that distraction for us.

Examples of how Basecamp, Gravity Forms and Facebook are integrated into out Slack channel.

You can head over to their site and read the full article here. In the meantime, we’ll keep doing what we do best, doing great work and staying awesome.

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Over here at Stampede, We ♥ Slack. This is a collaborative work platform which has been getting much attention recently. We’ve been using Slack for the past couple of years and one of its interesting features is the integration of bots. These automated chat bots have been programmed to facilitate specific tasks from scheduling meetings to keeping track of information.

While many different bots are available for download, we at Stampede have found some of the best bots that has helped us in improving our work environment.

Meekan Scheduling Assistant

When you work with a global team, it also means that your team members are working in different time zones and can have very different working hours. When you’re trying to set up a meeting with this environment it can prove to be troublesome. Enter Meekan, a chat bot who scans everyone’s calendars and finds common free times to schedule meetings.

Communicating with Meekan is just like chatting with a person.

This is our favorite bot by far because of all the things it can accomplish other than just scheduling meetings. Meekan can also find flight times making those last minute flights a breeze.

Our developer, Tony looking for a flight from Bali to Jakarta.

We’re hoping for more features to be implemented into it. Feel free to invite Meekan into your team.

Howdy

The creators of Howdy describe it as a ‘digital co-worker’ as it works alongside with you by participating in day-to-day tasks like a team member. An example of Howdy’s prowess is the ability to host meetings by engaging members of a channel personally. This bot is perfect for projects where the team is busy and only enough time to give task updates.

Starting a meeting with Howdy.

People in the meeting will receive a direct message from Howdy asking them about their progress.

Pretty cool stuff and if you’re interested you can get it here.

Statsbot

Statsbot integrates Google Analytics functionality directly onto Slack. Using simple commands, you can have it fetch any statistical data whenever you need it. This bot saves us a lot of time because it can post data directly into a Slack channel removing the need to enter Google Analytics on a daily basis.

All without needing to log into Google Analytics.

If you’re using Slack and involved in digital marketing, you might want to pick up Statsbots. It will definitely help you optimize your workflow.

Growbot

Growbot helps you appreciate your team by allowing people to send ‘kudos’  to someone who has achieved a milestone, done great work, or just being plain awesome. Over time, kudos get accumulated showing how much the individual has contributed to the team. We use Growbot as a way to know if someone has done a good job over time and deserves a reward.

An example of how @jeremy is giving props to @justin

Ready to grow your team?

Kifi

Love to share stuff with the team? We do this at Stampede all the time and more than often, these links can get lost in the flow of responses. This is where Kifi comes in, who saves and keeps links that are shared within Slack channels. Kifi will then create a full-text index of every web page shared, making them easier to find. These links are stored in ‘libraries’ and can be used as a reference point for your team whenever someones needs to retrieve a saved link from a specific channel. You can access the saved library directly on Kifi.

How Kifi looks like when it’s integrated on Slack.

To integrate Kifi into Slack, you can do so here.

So there you have it, a list of our favorite bots on Slack. Hope this summary serves to enlighten fellow Slack-ers on the use of bots. If you’re a Slack user, are bots a part of your team? Let us know if you’re using other amazing bots that make your work experience great!

The post Slack Bots We Didn’t Know We Couldn’t Live Without appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.