Your goal may not be as ambitious as putting a robot on Mars, but increased team communication and project management may be the next best thing at your co-op.

Slack, a dual mobile and desktop app, touts on its website that the “team behind the Mars Curiosity Rover is one of tens of thousands of teams around the world using Slack to make their working lives simpler, more pleasant and more productive.”

It is primarily a messaging app aimed at reducing the number of emails in your inbox and increasing productivity.

“We started using Slack back in late 2013 or early 2014 to provide instant communication to internal employees, either one-on-one or to a group,” said Cody Dunagan, network administrator for North Georgia Network Cooperative, a fiber optic corporation whose members include two Georgie electric cooperatives: Habersham EMC and Blue Ridge Mountain EMC. “Compared to email, communication in Slack happens in real-time, so if I need to get information out immediately to employees, or have a simple question, Slack is my go-to app for communication.”

Slack isn’t just about instant messaging. Slack is fully searchable, and conversations are organized within channels such as departments, teams, topics, projects, group messages, and even private messages. Users can also share files, photos, and URLs.

“Slack is a better means to communicate with our group,” said Michael Wasson, COO of Canoochee Electric Membership Cooperative. “It’s easy to use and allows me to communicate in real-time, and I don’t have to send out a blast email.”