Calming the Noise of Support Tools
Chasing after the next big support tool is exhausting. I think it's time we stepped back to assess what we need rather than what we want.
Ever feel totally overwhelmed by all the advice about your support stack? Or your team setup? Or your work environment? ðŸ«
It’s great to have so many options, but sometimes it just feels like too much.
One minute, everyone’s saying being in the office is a must because it’s supposed to boost collaboration. Then, blink, and suddenly it’s all about remote work being the ultimate productivity hack.
Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, here comes the buzz about async being the key to maximum efficiency. And don’t even get me started on the debates over team chat tools—are they really essential, or just another distraction?
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SubscribeAnd AI? Wow, it feels like every tool out there is slapping AI on just to see what sticks without really giving it a chance to develop. It’s like everything you do is wrong, while everyone else seems to be an expert (I'm looking at you LinkedIn 👀).
When you’re part of a big team, having the right support stack is crucial for getting things done. But with the rise of chatbots, self-serve options, and a jumble of ticketing systems, emails, and shiny new tools, figuring it all out isn’t a walk in the park.
In this post, I won’t throw specific advice your way about what to use. Instead, let’s chat about how to cut through the endless noise.
Tool balance rather than tool chase
When we launched HelpDocs back in 2016, there were just a handful of big players in the support space. We started the company because we noticed there weren’t any solid standalone Knowledge Base platforms where you could sign up without all the sales nonsense or needing to whip out your credit card.
"Sometimes, I think it's important to take a step back and consider what we actually need instead of what we think we want"
Fast forward eight years, and wow, now there’s just too much choice! 😵
On one hand, it's great—starting a business is cheaper and more accessible than ever. But on the flip side, it can feel really overwhelming. We’re always on the hunt for the next amazing tool to solve all of our support woes.
Sometimes, I think it's important to take a step back and consider what we actually need instead of what we think we want. Is this enhancing the customer experience or just making them jump through loops to make it easier for us?
Plus, let’s face it—some platforms are trying to do way too much all at once. Ideally, we’d all use one tool for all our support needs, but it’s just not realistic to expect one company to care about every single part of the support process.
Our journey to getting tool harmony
When we kicked things off in 2016, we jumped right into live chat.
We were all about pleasing people and thought it was the best way to get feedback and offer top-notch support.
But looking back, wow, was that stressful! Waiting for that ping in the browser made it nearly impossible to focus on deep work. Trying to nail the right tone and find the right info? Talk about anxiety!
River Sloane
We just kept piling on more and more tools.
We had live chat, email support, and bombarded our onboarding flow with questions to encourage replies—maybe a little too much. We experimented with so many task management apps that we actually ran out of space on some of them!
I’ll admit, I was the one who pushed for most of those tool changes. I thought the shiny new thing would be the answer, and transitioning to the next tool would be worth the hassle.
But after a few big shifts, we realized we needed to stick with what we had and build a solid system around it. There wasn’t going to be a magic tool that checked every single box we wanted.
Now, we’ve simplified things and only use three main support tools—HelpDocs (of course 😉) for self-service, Front for email support, and Asana for task management.
Where does a Knowledge Base fit in?
A common question people have is: how does a Knowledge Base fit into the picture? Do I really need both a Knowledge Base and a Wiki? Can't I just stick my docs in a Wiki instead?
Sure, you could do that. But here’s the thing: it really comes down to authoritative versus collaborative content.
River Sloane
Knowledge Base articles should allow for some collaboration, but they're not meant to be "living" documents that change all the time. You want them to stay stable so you can confidently share those help articles with customers or your team, knowing they're as accurate as possible.
I totally get why this can be confusing! Paying for two similar platforms feels like a waste of money, but once you see how different their use cases are, it makes sense why you might want both:
- Knowledge Bases are where experts can share their insights and update info as needed.
- Wikis are more about teams collaborating on a document that evolves over time.
Keeping them separate means you won’t mix them up!
Finding Harmony in the New Tool-Rich Age
Finding the right support tools can feel like piecing together a puzzle. Each one needs to fit perfectly to create something that works, and honestly, figuring out which pieces you need can be a bit of a challenge.
With so many options out there, it’s crucial to choose tools that enhance your support flow rather than complicate things or add extra stress. So, it helps to ask yourself some questions, like:
- Do we really need this new tool, or can we tweak our current setup to work better for us?
- Are we spending too much time managing these tools instead of focusing on serving our customers?
- Are we taking the time to listen to feedback from our team and customers when making tool decisions?
These questions can really steer you in the right direction.
It’s definitely an ongoing process, but the key is to use tools that excel at specific tasks and integrate them smoothly. That’s what works best for us!