AI IT Support Agent — Slack and Web Chat

Business impact

Kept AI first-line IT support running through the form-platform migration, moved it to where staff already work, and turned every failed self-fix into a complete ticket instead of a vague request.

Problem

First-line IT help ran on an AI agent inside the form builder the agency was leaving. Its escalation path pointed at a form being retired, staff had to find a separate link to use it, and its knowledge and rules lived only inside that product.

Solution

Recreated the agent on Zapier: a Zapier Agent listens to a public #it-help Slack channel and answers in the message's thread, reading the thread for follow-ups, and a standalone web chat carries the same instructions and knowledge base. The original persona, rules and 41,000+ characters of troubleshooting knowledge were copied verbatim from the source product's API. When a fix doesn't work, the agent hands over a pre-filled link to the new IT request form, so the person only reviews, picks a priority and submits.

Results & highlights

• Two front ends from one playbook: threaded replies in Slack #it-help for staff who live in Slack, and a web chat linked from the team portal for everyone else
• Escalation as a pre-filled ticket: name, category, category detail, system, description and steps already tried are filled in from the conversation; the agent never submits on someone's behalf and never asks for passwords
• Rules carried over and hardened: lightest fix first, two to three fixes then a ticket, no Task Manager, security terms escalate immediately, and Slack system notices are ignored so they don't spend the plan's monthly activity allowance
• Tested in the live channel before rollout: a top-level-reply defect in v1 was caught and fixed in v2 (thread-only replies), then follow-up, re-greeting and ticket-link behaviour verified
• Rolled out the same afternoon: channel opened to the whole team, announcement posted, portal tile added, and a 20-minute training module with seven help pages, an SOP and a quiz

Competencies demonstrated

• AI agent design: Persona, rules and knowledge base migrated verbatim; thread-aware Slack behaviour with explicit operating rules.
• Help-desk process design: Troubleshoot-then-escalate flow with a pre-filled ticket and a 1-business-day SLA behind it.
• Change management: Same-day channel rollout, announcement, portal tile and a full training module.

Architecture

Notes

• Conversation content and channel membership are not shown.