One of the greatest problems that companies have been trying to tackle since the dawn of time (other than that stuck printer that refuses to print a black and white memo because it has no red ink) is communication.
Emails and team-based task management apps are great for general updates but are needlessly complicated for those thousand small questions that arise in the course of the day. For quick answers, easy is standing up and walking to your colleague’s cubicle. Easy is turning around in the swivel chair to face them. In a larger organization where your colleague is located five time-zones and three connecting flights away, you normally end up chasing the answer and sometimes, the entire conversation thread across multiple channels like email, IM and Skype.
Preferred Chat System by Randall Munroe (XKCD #1254)
So, in a larger organization, easy would be using Slack. Slack’s widely successful team-messaging service has ensured that people can communicate to each other without having to use owls to send inter-departmental memos. They can share important updates quickly with relevant files or data without having to worry about those updates languishing in inboxes halfway across the world.
As huge fans and users of Slack ourselves, we found that their goals are very closely aligned with ours. We’ve been trying to bridge communication gaps between businesses and their customers while Slack has been doing the same between various office departments and employees. The common goal has always been to ensure greater connectivity and make it easier to communicate – no matter where you are or what device you are on.
So we realized we could go one step further and make agents’ lives easier by integrating our helpdesk with Slack.
As if your colleague is right beside you
With the Freshdesk-Slack integration, agents automatically receive updates regarding tickets in Slack channels. When a note is added or a new ticket is created, agents are notified in Slack channels. The contents of the new tickets or notes are also available within the Slack channel so that it is easier for agents to stay updated on tickets that they are not directly dealing with.
Messages and updates also have lesser chances of being buried since the integration allows agents to make use of Slack’s powerful search features to trawl through all the updates, notes and tickets that are posted in the channels.
Agents can also now convert conversations in direct messages that they have over Slack into tickets. So, if a colleague raises an internal query via direct message on Slack that agents would like to deal with later, or points out potential fires on a web forum where customers are complaining, agents can easily convert those to tickets as well.
Click here to learn more about the integration and how to set it up. Give it a try and let us know what you think. Bring your agents closer – no matter where they are, and make their lives easier.
Original Article by Sajini Ramesh
