Help Scout, (known as Help Scout PBC) is a global remote company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.[1][2] It develops subscription-based help desk and knowledge base software for managing customer support.[3][1][4]
Founded in 2011, the company serves over 10,000 customers across more than 140 countries, including notable clients like Buffer,[5][6] Basecamp, Trello,[7] Reddit, and AngelList. Help Scout transitioned to a fully remote company in 2020, with over 100 employees living in more than 80 cities worldwide.[8][9][10]
History
Help Scout was created in 2011 as a pivot from Brightwurks, a web design and consultancy firm previously founded by Nick Francis,[11] Jared McDaniel, and Denny Swindle. The company was publicly launched during their participation in Techstars Boston, a startup accelerator program.[12]
Features and technology
Help Desk
Help Scout's support software operates like a shared email inbox. The platform enables large teams to provide customer support via email using their tool.[13] It integrates with live chat, phone systems, CRMs, and email marketing tools.[14]
Docs
In addition to the help desk platform, Help Scout offers Docs, a self-service knowledge base as a feature in 2013.[15] Exporting documents requires API access and programming knowledge; there is no export to ZIP file containing HTML source code/CSS/assets, or PDF offerings at this time.[16]
Beacon
Help Scout's embeddable widget, Beacon, provides users on a website with quick access to Docs and/or serves as a contact form.[17]
Mobile
Help Scout launched its iOS app[18] in January 2016 and its Android app[19] in February 2017.
Open source contribution
One of the developers at Help Scout created an open-source CSS framework used to style their marketing website. Named Seed, this framework is written using Sass and follows the BEM and ITCSS naming architecture. It employs modern JavaScript-like methodologies for scoping, modularization, and dependency management. More information and Getting Started documentation can be found at seedcss.com.
Awards, recognition, and philanthropy
In December 2011, Help Scout participated in a fundraising initiative for Acumen, a charity fighting poverty, donating over $100,000 from the sale of a poster featuring Steve Jobs' quote “Here’s to the crazy ones.”[20][21]
In November 2015, Help Scout was named by AppStorm as one of six customer service software offerings to delight customers on Mac.[22] That year, it was also recognized as a “marketing tool to know” by Business2Community[23] and a “game-changing software solution” for startups by Business.com.[24] In 2016, BostInno’s listed Help Scout among the “16 Boston Startups To Watch in 2016”.[25]
Help Scout's work culture and job descriptions have also been acknowledged, winning the “Best Job Description” award from The Workies Awards by Workable in 2015.[26][27][28]
See also
References
- ^ a b Help Scout Draws Funding To Bring Affordable Email Collaboration And Support To Startups. TechCrunch. 2011-10-08.
- ^ "6 Companies Who Rocked Remote Workflow in 2016". Move Your Business Forward | Worldwide101 Blog. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ Scout, Help. "Help Scout and HIPAA - Help Scout Support". docs.helpscout.com. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ "Farm to keyboard: why software is the next "craft" industry". Quartz. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "Respond by Buffer | The 7 tools we use for support and customer development". Respond By Buffer. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "8 Essential Online Tools For Getting More Work Done". Fast Company. 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ Cervino, Brian. "How The Help Scout Integration For Trello Is Transforming Support Teams". Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ Higginbottom, Karen. "How Agile Working Has Impacted Our Workspace". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "The Right Way to Build a Remote Culture". Inc.com. 2017-03-18. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ Zapier. "How Successful Remote Teams Evaluate Employees: A look inside Automattic, GitHub and Help Scout - The Ultimate Guide to Remote Work - Zapier". zapier.com. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "145 — Nick Francis". From Founder to CEO. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ McCarty, Brad (22 July 2011). "Frugality and determination make Help Scout a startup to watch". thenextweb.com. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "Stuff We Like: Help Scout – Lewis Croft". lewiscroft.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
- ^ "'Drunk user testing' mixes cocktails and coding". Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ Scout, Help. "Knowledge Base Software | Help Scout". Help Scout. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "Data Export Options - Help Scout Support". docs.helpscout.com. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
- ^ Scout, Help. "Beacon | Help Scout". www.helpscout.com. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "Help Scout on the App Store". App Store. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "Help Scout - Android Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ McCarty, Brad (6 December 2011). ""Here's to the crazy ones" gets its own beautiful, letterpress poster to benefit charity". thenextweb.com. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "The Road to Growth - Help Scout". www.mbbp.com. Archived from the original on 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "Slick Customer Service Software For Mac To Delight Your Clients « Mac.AppStorm". mac.appstorm.net. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "100 Awesome Marketing Tools You Should Know". Business 2 Community. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "11 Game-Changing Software for Startups - business.com". business.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "16 Boston Startups to Watch in 2016". BostInno. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "Managing the Double-Edged Sword of Teaser Emails". smallbiztrends.com. 19 January 2016. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "How Help Scout Went from 0 to 250K Visitors a Month | SEJ". Search Engine Journal. 2015-05-13. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
- ^ "2015 Workies Award Winners: The Best Recruitment Strategies". Inside Workable - news, company announcements, new features from Workable. 2015-12-11. Archived from the original on 2017-03-15. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
