In the information economy, sorting through internal discussions in an organization can be a laborious task, particularly when discussions are conducted through long chains of emails. The goal of the cloud-based team collaboration tool Slack is to simplify internal communication in order to increase efficiency.

This guide to Slack is both an easily digestible introduction to the service, as well as a “living” guide that will be updated periodically to keep IT leaders in the loop on new features, integrations, competitors, and ways in which this technology can be leveraged.

From the cheat sheet:

WHAT IS SLACK?

Slack is a cloud-based collaboration tool that aims to be the central platform through which teams communicate. In the most simplistic view, Slack is an email replacement, though it operates more like group messaging or Internet Relay Chat (IRC)–foregoing the formalities of composing emails, and having various channels to which team members can be assigned, rather than the comparatively complex task of managing mailing lists.

Additionally, private channels can be used to restrict conversations to pre-approved team members, while public channels are available for team members to join as desired, like IRC.