"With HelpDesk+, we have stopped copying and pasting between Slack and Jira Service Management."
Evn T., Senior Manager of Enterprise Collaboration, iRobot

The challenge: adapting to remote work

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, iRobot’s IT support primarily relied on in-person interactions, with employees simply walking up to get help. However, as the company shifted to a fully remote environment, these interactions moved online, leading to new challenges:

Support threads getting lost in Slack
Increased manual effort in tracking progress
Difficulty measuring IT team success
Growing user frustration and confusion

To address these pain points, iRobot turned to Appfire’s HelpDesk+ for Slack integration, which promised to streamline their support processes.

The solution: meeting users where they are

Already providing support via Slack, iRobot recognized the need to integrate these conversations directly with Jira Service Management. HelpDesk+ offered a two-way integration between Jira and Slack, enabling the IT team to track and resolve issues more efficiently while eliminating unnecessary manual work.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of this integration was a senior support technician named Lindsey. Previously, at the end of each day, she had to manually copy and paste support requests from Slack into Jira tickets to ensure nothing was lost and that all requests were logged for reporting. With HelpDesk+, this tedious task was eliminated, allowing her to support more users and enjoy a more streamlined workday.

The results: improved efficiency and satisfaction

The simple interface of HelpDesk+ within Slack led to faster ticket resolution, as alert emails were replaced by instant Slack notifications. Users could create tickets with a single step, such as using an emoji, making the process more intuitive and accessible.

By moving from in-person to Slack-first support, iRobot was able to meet users where they were already interacting, resulting in significant improvements in support speed and satisfaction.

“Before the integration, about 15% of our tickets were generated through Slack. Now, closer to 70% of our tickets are generated in Slack.”
Evn T., Senior Manager of Enterprise Collaboration, iRobot

Key Results

Time savings: iRobot has seen time-saving benefits across the board, from creating to resolving tickets.
Perception shift: HelpDesk+ brought a more organized and official system for requesting support directly from Slack.
Better tracking, more support: Automated tracking reduced the need for manual logging, allowing iRobot to better report on success metrics and freeing up agents to support more users.
Increased satisfaction: The streamlined IT process has improved both user and team satisfaction, reducing frustration and better meeting the needs of their remote workforce.

With the implementation of HelpDesk+ for Slack, iRobot has successfully transformed its IT support process to align with the needs of a fully remote workforce. By meeting users directly in Slack, iRobot has enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of its support system, ensuring that issues are resolved faster and with greater ease.

About iRobot

iRobot, the leading global consumer robot company, designs and builds robots that empower people to do more both inside and outside of the home. iRobot created the home robot cleaning category with the introduction of its Roomba® Robot Vacuum in 2002. Today, iRobot is a global enterprise that has sold more than 30 million robots worldwide. iRobot's product line, including the Roomba® and the Braava® family of mopping robots, feature proprietary technologies and advanced concepts in cleaning, mapping and navigation. iRobot engineers are building an ecosystem of robots and technologies to enable the smart home.

How iRobot transformed remote support with HelpDesk+ for Slack

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