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Help Scout

SUPPORT
Velocity2.5

Customer support platform with shared inbox, docs, and messaging for small businesses.

www.helpscout.com ↗

Help Scout's inbox is turning into an account view, with company-level history and a redesigned context sidebar.

customer-supportshared-inboxaccount-contextslasms
◆Current state
Help Scout's recent releases center on context and coverage in the shared inbox. The new Conversation Sidebar puts status, SLA, Topics and Sentiment next to customer, company and history data. A companion release gathers all of a company's conversations into one view. Two-way SMS through Twilio, from August, remains the only new channel in the window.
◆Where it's heading
The product is moving from per-ticket email support toward account-level support for B2B teams: company-wide history, account health, SLAs with next-response goals and SLA-driven workflows. Availability features (per-inbox schedules, away status, auto-reassignment) round out an operations layer for distributed teams.
◆Prediction
Expect more company-level features, such as company views in reporting or SLAs set per account, building on the company-wide view and account-health releases. The entries don't show whether more channels will follow SMS.

◆Recent moves

  1. 28d ago

    Put Customer Context in Reach

    A redesigned Conversation Sidebar consolidates status, assignee, SLA, Topics and Sentiment with customer, company, history, custom fields and apps. It brings together the account-context data Help Scout has added over the summer, so agents see it without switching panels.

    View source ↗
  2. 2mo ago

    Bring Company-Wide Support Into View

    A company-wide view gathers conversations from every contact at a customer company, across inboxes. It extends the account-health work from June and moves Help Scout further toward B2B account support.

    View source ↗
  3. 2mo ago

    Support Customers Over Text in Help Scout

    ⚡ SPARK

    Two-way SMS through the customer's own Twilio number adds a new channel to the shared inbox next to email, chat and social. It's the one channel expansion in a stretch otherwise focused on context and SLA operations.

    View source ↗
  4. 3mo ago

    Give Every Inbox Its Own Schedule

    Office hours can now be set per inbox instead of company-wide, which improves SLA reporting and out-of-office replies for teams spread across time zones. It's part of the operations layer built around SLAs.

    View source ↗
  5. 4mo ago

    Auto-Reassign Conversations When Teammates Are Away

    Conversations are reassigned automatically when a teammate is away. It builds on the availability status shipped days earlier, so a status change now drives routing rather than just showing who's out.

    View source ↗
  6. 4mo ago

    See and Set Availability on Web and Mobile

    Agents can set Active, Away or a custom status on web and mobile, synced across the inbox. It's the base the auto-reassignment feature builds on.

    View source ↗