Microsoft Teams has scored a major win, with Disney tapping the collaboration software to replace Slack in the wake of a massive data breach.

Teams is Slack’s primary rival in the business communication and collaboration market, with Team passing Slack’s user base years in no small part as a result of being bundled with the rest of Microsoft’s software ecosystem.

Catch our chat on why Disney ditched Slack for Microsoft Teams!

Following a breach that saw some 44 million messages from Disney’s Slack channels leaked online, the company decided to drop Slack in favor of other tools. What was not immediately known was which option Disney decided to adopt, with reports simply saying the company was rolling out “enterprise-wide collaboration tools.”

According to Business Insider, it appears Microsoft Teams is the winning solution, although many users are not happy with the change. In fact, a number of them have been voicing their discontent on Blind, the anonymous forum for individuals to discuss their jobs.

“Teams is horrible,” wrote one employee.

“So terrible,” added another.

Some employees evidently also voiced concern over losing access to archived content and communications as part of the move.

Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said the transition would target Q1 FY25 for most use cases, with “more complex use cases” transitioning away from slack in Q2 FY25.

Microsoft’s Teams Problem

The comments by Disney employees underscores the issues Microsoft has with Teams. While the software may technically have more users than Slack, Slack remains the favorite option among many users—both current and former. Teams is often criticized for being more cumbersome and less intuitive than Slack.

Despite Slack being the preferred option for many, Teams is more widely deployed thanks to its integration with the rest of Microsoft’s products. As early as 2019, Teams had nearly double Slack’s daily users when it topped 20 million. From that point on, Teams’ usage skyrocketed, with the app boasting 270 million monthly active users in early 2022.

Teams’ unfair advantage became so pronounced that Slack lodged a formal complaint with the EU, prompting Microsoft to stop bundling Teams with Office. Despite Microsoft’s actions, rumors circulated in late 2023 that the EU was preparing to move forward with a formal complaint against the company.

Ultimately, Microsoft needs to improve Teams to the point where people actually want to use it, rather than being forced to use it because it was bundled with their other software, or because corporate leadership is abandoning a Teams competitor in response to a data breach.

Until Microsoft improves Teams to that degree, Slack will continue to be the more popular option among users, even if Teams has the bigger user base.

Disney’s Memo In Full

Below is the full memo that was sent to employees, courtesy of Business Insider:

Fellow Employees and Cast Members,

Collaboration is at the heart of our employee culture. It connects us to each other, our work, and ultimately our guests and consumers — fueling the creativity required to make Disney magic.

How we work and collaborate together is equally important, and where we have opportunities to leverage more integrated tools and platforms we should. As some of you are aware, many teams have already begun their transition to streamlined enterprise-wide collaboration tools.

As part of this work, I would like to share that senior leadership has made the decision to transition away from Slack across the company. Our technology teams are now managing the transition off Slack by the end of Q1 FY25 for most businesses, with DX and more complex use cases following in Q2 FY25. This will help integrate our collaboration tools with some of the new platforms already being put in place. These teams are planning and overseeing key workstreams to support this transition, with a focus on reinforcing current TWDC policies for work-related collaboration.

We are excited about the alignment and productivity that will be unlocked as we streamline our collaboration platforms, and we appreciate your patience as we navigate new ways of working together.

Much more information, training resources, and best practices for optimal work-related collaboration and reinforcement of policies regarding secure handling of sensitive information will be shared over the coming weeks by your respective technology teams.

Thanks,

Hugh