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Help Scout

SUPPORT
Velocity0.0

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

www.helpscout.com ↗

Help Scout adds SMS via Twilio and company-wide conversation views, pushing into multi-channel support territory.

helpdeskcustomer-supportsmsslamulti-channelb2b-support
◆Current state
Help Scout has been expanding its channel surface and operational controls through mid-2026: native SMS support through Twilio, per-inbox scheduling for multi-timezone teams, SLA automation workflows, auto-reassignment of conversations when agents are away, and a company-wide view that aggregates all conversations from a customer's organization in one place. This is a product moving from a solid single-channel helpdesk toward a multi-channel support platform.
◆Where it's heading
Help Scout is building the operational infrastructure that B2B support teams need: SLAs, auto-routing, availability management, account-level views. The SMS addition is the most surface-visible change—it's a new channel, not a workflow improvement—and it signals that the product is directly competing with tools like Front and Intercom that have multi-channel as a baseline. The trajectory is toward feature parity with more complex helpdesks while maintaining simplicity.
◆Prediction
The SMS addition will likely be followed by more channel integrations (WhatsApp, social) or AI-assisted response drafting—given the market has moved hard toward AI features in helpdesk products, Help Scout appears overdue on that front.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1mo ago

    Bring Company-Wide Support Into View

    Company-wide support view aggregates all conversations from a company's contacts in one place—giving support agents full context on what a customer's organization has raised before responding to any individual thread.

    View source ↗
  2. 1mo ago

    Support Customers Over Text in Help Scout

    ⚡ SPARK

    Help Scout adds native SMS support via Twilio, giving teams a second real-time channel alongside chat—managed from the same shared inbox alongside email, with character counting to prevent split messages. This extends Help Scout's channel surface meaningfully for the first time.

    View source ↗
  3. 2mo ago

    Give Every Inbox Its Own Schedule

    Per-inbox scheduling replaces the single company-wide office hours—useful for teams with different departments, regions, or time zones that needed different availability windows per channel.

    View source ↗
  4. 3mo ago

    Auto-Reassign Conversations When Teammates Are Away

    Auto-reassignment triggers when a teammate goes out of office—conversations move automatically rather than sitting in an away agent's queue, keeping SLA clocks from running against unavailable staff.

    View source ↗
  5. 3mo ago

    See and Set Availability on Web and Mobile

    Availability status management arrives on both web and mobile with custom status options—giving teams visibility into who is actually available and why, reducing the dead-air problem when coverage is thin.

    View source ↗
  6. 3mo ago

    Automate Actions Around SLA Deadlines

    SLA automation lets workflows trigger on approaching or missed SLA deadlines—turning the SLA framework from a monitoring tool into an action layer that can escalate, reassign, or notify without manual oversight.

    View source ↗