IT teams have embraced employee-facing chat channels as an alternative way to provide support, since there’s a good chance that someone in the group is experiencing the same issue, or has created a workaround, or even knows the solution. However, keeping track of these requests can cause an increase in busy work for already overextended IT teams. Service desk agents must read through each thread to determine the best course of action.

Slack recognized the value of offering tech support in a group setting — that is, via Slack channel. Helping employees over chat — and in particular, over group chat — is a radical departure from the portal or email-based support that’s long been standard at other organizations. And it’s a departure that makes sense, given Slack’s mission of bringing open communication to the workplace. But the question remained: Would this approach deliver faster, more efficient resolutions?