Slack has announced it has acquired Rimeto, a company that has revolutionized business directory software.

Rimeto offers a unique approach to business directories, upgrading the concept from a bland list of names and contact info. Instead, Rimeto pulls information from across a company to develop a rich profile of each employee, including what projects they’ve worked on, what customers they’ve interacted with, their skills, experience and more.

Slack is especially interested in this technology during the pandemic, as employees are struggling to stay connected with their coworkers.

“If there’s one thing we’ve heard over and over from our customers and employees alike during the pandemic, it’s that people are struggling to stay connected,” writes the Slack Team. “We all want to understand the people we work with and have context around their lives. Employees with weak social ties to their colleagues aren’t as happy or productive as employees at companies with a thriving, healthy culture.”

Integrating Rimeto with Slack is a natural fit, and will significantly improve Slack’s profile and directory features. At the same time, Slack intends to keep offering Rimeto as a standalone product and continue supporting their existing customers.

This is good news for all parties. Slack will see a significant boost to their directory features, while Rimeto and their customers will likely benefit from the additional resources Slack brings to the table.