Siemens PLM Software has added support for Slack and Microsoft Teams to its Digital Innovation Platform through the Teamcenter Cloud Collaboration Hub.

The update means Slack and Microsoft Teams users are able to post messages and view their conversation history from their Active Workspace using Teamcenter.

Siemens PLM Software explained that it will enable products to be of a higher quality as engineers and other development teams can view each other’s work and provide feedback in real time.

It can be used across departments, with conversations that require cross-team to be decisions easily managed. For example, if engineering and the project management team need to communicate with the supply chain team, those conversations can be open to relevant parties, without cluttering other departments’ Workspace.

As well as allowing for more productive conversation streams with collaborators – whether employees, clients or partners, it also means that it will be much faster for teams to collaborate on projects, with instant communication between employees in the engineering world.

“Gaining real-time access to the information and leveraging collaborative efforts from distinct teams to drive insights from that information have become inevitably essential to design and innovative best-in-class products in today’s globally distributed manufacturing environment,” said Shubhang Tripathi, senior product marketing manager at Siemens PLM Software.

The Slack and Microsoft Teams integration is available across the Active Workspace environments, including in-browser and mobile, whether a smartphone or table, so employees can collaborate whether they’re at their desk or in the field.

As is the case with all Active Workspace integrations, conversations can be filtered and are only presented if they’re relevant to the user’s job role, making it simple to find updates and act upon them quickly.