Helpdesk set-up.
Email, chat, messaging and phone in one place, with AI for your customers and your team, set up around how you work. Or fixed so it finally does, or moved across from a shared inbox without losing the thread.
What is a helpdesk?
One place for every customer conversation. Email, chat, messages and calls all arrive in the same list, so nothing sits in one person's inbox and nothing gets answered twice.
Without one
Emails in a shared mailbox, chats in another tool, calls on whoever picks up. Nobody can see who has answered what, and a customer who gets in touch twice explains everything twice.
With one
Every conversation in one list, each with an owner, a history and a priority. The helpdesk does the sorting, so the people do the answering.
See it work
Every customer reaches the right person.
Four everyday situations, by chat, email and phone. Pick one and follow it through the helpdesk.
The orders team sees the chat with the customer’s order and past conversations beside it.
Where you’re starting from
Which of these is you?
Pick the one closest to where you are now.
Starting fresh
The best time to set one up is before the habits form. We start from how messages reach you today, and build something your team will actually use.
- We look at how messages reach youWhich channels, how many, what they’re about and who answers them now.
- We help you chooseA helpdesk that suits your size and the systems you already use. We aren’t tied to one maker.
- We set it up around how you workChannels, phone menus, rules and replies built for your business, and tested on real messages and calls.
- Your team is trained, and it’s yoursWith a short handbook on how it’s set up and why.
Moving without losing anything
The move most growing teams make, and the one most likely to go wrong when it’s rushed. We plan it with you so your customers don’t notice the switch.
- We agree what comes acrossPast conversations, customer records and saved replies. And what is better left behind.
- We rebuild what can’t be copiedRules, automations and phone menus don’t travel between systems, so they are rebuilt and tested.
- A test move firstOn a sample, checked with you, so old conversations can’t message customers by accident.
- Switched on a quiet dayWith the team walked through it, and a way back if something isn’t right.
Fixing what’s there
Bought with good intentions and barely set up, or built years ago by someone who has since left. You don’t need a new helpdesk. You need this one to work.
- Messages missed, or answered twice
- Phones in a world of their own
- Paying for features nobody uses
- Rules nobody understands, and too risky to touch
- A health check firstWe go through how it’s set up, from the rules and the views to what’s switched on.
- What to fix firstA short list, in order, with what each fix would change.
- Fixed without stopping the workChanges are tested before they touch live conversations.
- Left so it stays fixedWritten down, with someone on your side who owns it.
Why not a shared inbox?
The same six messages, two ways.
A shared mailbox works until there are more messages than one person can hold in their head.
Answered twice. Missed. Nobody can see who has what.
One owner each. Answered in order. Nothing lost.
What we set up
Every part, built around how you work.
A helpdesk is several things working together. Pick a part to see what it does.
Every channel, in one place
Email and web forms, live chat, messaging and social, and phone. Every conversation with a customer sits in one history, however they got in touch, so nobody has to ask them to repeat themselves.
Phone, set up properly
Phone menus (IVR), calls routed to the right people, queues, voicemail, callbacks at busy times and recordings, in your helpdesk’s own phone tools or a phone system connected to it.
A help centre customers can use
Answers customers can find for themselves before they need to ask. Your team and your AI work from the same articles, so everyone gives the same answer.Processes and knowledge base
AI that answers your customers
An AI agent that answers the common questions itself, from information you’ve checked. When it can’t or shouldn’t, it hands over to a person with the conversation attached.AI set-up
AI that helps your team answer
Suggested replies, summaries of long conversations and the right article to hand, for the people doing the answering. A separate thing from the AI your customers talk to, with its own set-up.AI set-up
Rules that sort it for you
What decides where each message goes, by what it’s about, who it’s from and who is free. Written so the next person can read them, and tested before they’re switched on.
Your best answers, ready to hand
The answers your team gives every day, written once in your tone of voice, for people to use and make their own. Not scripts.
How quickly, for each kind of message
How soon each kind of message should be answered, with a warning before one runs late, so the urgent ones don’t wait behind the easy ones.
Linked to the systems you use
Your shop, billing and customer records connected in, so the team sees the order or the account beside the message and doesn’t have to go looking.
You can see how it’s going
What customers are asking about and how the work is going, set up from the first week so you have something to compare against later.Reporting and analytics
From operators
Set up by people who run operations.
A helpdesk is only as good as the working day it's built for. We've run large customer operations, so we set yours up for the people who'll be in it all day, with what they need in front of them, and what should happen without them.
- Zendesk, Gorgias and Intercom (Fin) first, with HubSpot, Freshdesk, Help Scout and others set up to the same standard
- Built around why your customers get in touch, and how your team works
- Tested on real messages and calls before anything changes for your customers
- Written down and handed over, so it stays yours
- Help as it beds in, and after, if you'd like it
Questions, answered.
The things people ask us first.
Do we need a helpdesk yet?
If more than one person answers customers, or anything gets missed, it's usually time. If a shared inbox still works for you, we'll say so.
Can you help us choose one?
Yes. We aren't tied to any one maker. We'll look at how you work, what you need to connect it to and what your team will actually use, and tell you which fits.
How does the cost of a helpdesk work?
Most are paid for monthly, by the number of people answering or the number of conversations. AI that answers your customers is usually charged by the conversation it handles. AI that helps your team is usually an extra per person. Phone calls are often charged by the minute. Plans and add-ons vary a lot between makers, so we'll help you work out what yours would come to. We'll also make sure you're not paying for things you won't use.
Do you set up phones as well as email and chat?
Yes. Phone menus, call routing, voicemail and callbacks, in your helpdesk's own phone tools or a phone system connected to it. A call then sits in the same history as that customer's emails and chats, and whoever answers can see all of it.
Do you set up the AI too?
Yes. AI that answers your customers, AI that helps your team, or both. They are separate things to set up, and both work from help articles you have checked.AI set-up
Can you work with the helpdesk we already have?
Yes. Most of the time it needs setting up properly, not replacing. We start with a health check and tell you what to fix first.
What happens to our old conversations when we move?
We agree with you what comes across and what is better left behind. We rebuild what can’t be copied. Then we try the move on a sample, which you check before the full one.
Will the team lose time on the day we switch?
We switch on a quiet, well-staffed day. Conversations in progress are planned for, the team is walked through it beforehand, and there is a way back if something isn’t right.
Can you connect it to our other systems?
Yes, where your helpdesk supports it. That might be your shop, your customer records or your billing system, so the team isn't switching between screens.
Who looks after it once it is live?
Your team, with a short handbook on how it's set up and why. Or us, if you'd like help keeping it up to date.Training material
Can you run it for us once it is built?
Yes. That is the other half of what we do. A team we recruit and manage answers your customers in the helpdesk we have set up together. Because we helped build it, the team already knows how it works.Customer service
Does the helpdesk have to be finished before the team can start?
No. The team can start answering your customers in the helpdesk or your existing inbox as it is, while we build or improve it alongside. Because we are making the changes as well as running the work, the team is ready for each one before it goes live.
Can your team work alongside ours?
Yes. The team can share the work with your own people in the same helpdesk, take the evenings and weekends, or step in when it gets busy. Everyone works from the same history, so nothing is lost between the two.What we run
Alongside it
Around your helpdesk.
A helpdesk is only as good as what sits around it. We can put these in place too.
- Processes and knowledge baseThe answers your saved replies, your team and your AI all draw on.We set it upWe set it up
- AI for customer serviceAn AI agent, and AI help for the team, switched on properly.We set it upWe set it up
- ReportingContact reasons, and the views that show what is going on.We set it upWe set it up
- Helpdesk health checkAlready have one? A fixed look at what’s holding it back.We plan it with youWe plan it with you
- Customer serviceA team that works in it, answering in your name.We run itWe run it
Let's talk.
Tell us what's going on. If we're not the right fit, we'll point you to someone we trust.
Book a call