For $27.7 billion — a combination of cash and shares — CRM global firm Salesforce is set to acquire enterprise communications platform Slack.

The marriage of the two companies is viewed as transformative for the industry especially this time when the work environment has gone fully digital. Slack and Salesforce 360 will create an operating system for the new way to work.

“Salesforce started the cloud revolution, and two decades later, we are still tapping into all the possibilities it offers to transform the way we work. The opportunity we see together is massive,” said Stewart Butterfield, CEO and co-founder, Slack. “As software plays a more and more critical role in the performance of every organization, we share a vision of reduced complexity, increased power and flexibility, and ultimately a greater degree of alignment and organizational agility. Personally, I believe this is the most strategic combination in the history of software, and I can’t wait to get going.”

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Salesforce is a cloud-based software company that provides various services across industries. Slack, on the other hand, provides companies with an enterprise-grade communications platform. Slack Connect extends the benefits of Slack to enable communication and collaboration among a company’s employees and all its external partners, from vendors to customers.

Slack will be deeply integrated into every Salesforce Cloud. It will be able to expand its reach not only with Salesforce but also with other customers.

Slack’s open platform seamlessly integrates with more than 2,400 apps that people use to collaborate, communicate and get work done. With the largest enterprise app ecosystem, the Salesforce platform is the easiest way to build and deliver apps to connect with customers in a whole new way.

“Stewart and his team have built one of the most beloved platforms in enterprise software history, with an incredible ecosystem around it,” said Marc Benioff, chair and CEO, Salesforce. “This is a match made in heaven. Together, Salesforce and Slack will shape the future of enterprise software and transform the way everyone works in the all-digital, work-from-anywhere world. I’m thrilled to welcome Slack to the Salesforce Ohana once the transaction closes.”

The agreement is expected to close in Salesforce’s fiscal year 2022 which in the second quarter of the year.