"We went from tools that were complex and hard to manage to something our whole team actually uses. Ticket volume went up, walk-ups went down, and for the first time our SLAs are working the way they're supposed to."

— Help Desk Manager, Strada

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Overview

Strada is a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting education to work through research, philanthropy, and policy. With around 150 employees — and an extended network of affiliates totaling roughly 350 people — Strada relies on a lean IT team to keep operations running smoothly across the organization.

As Help Desk Manager, keeping up with incoming requests while maintaining visibility and accountability across the team is mission-critical. That's why finding the right ticketing solution mattered.

The challenge

Before Suptask, Strada was using Jira Service Management (JSM) and Halp to manage help desk requests. While both tools offered ticketing capabilities, they introduced more friction than they resolved. The tools were complex to manage, harder for employees to use, and didn't give the team the visibility or reporting they needed to track performance effectively.

Requests came in through multiple channels — formal tickets, walkups, and direct Slack messages — making it difficult to keep the queue organized and ensure nothing slipped through the cracks. SLAs existed in theory, but in practice, they weren't functioning as intended.

How Strada uses Suptask

Suptask is primarily used by Strada's IT team to manage help desk requests, with HR and Facilities also using it for things like new hire onboarding and employee terminations.

Employees across the organization submit tickets directly in Slack, where IT can triage, respond, and resolve — all without switching tools. Simplified intake forms mean users know exactly how to submit a request, and agents have all the context they need from the start.

A smooth transition from day one

Because Strada was already using Slack with JSM and Halp, the migration to Suptask was nearly seamless. The team didn't need to learn new workflows from scratch — Suptask fit naturally into the way people already worked.

Onboarding was straightforward, adoption happened quickly, and the team was up and running without the disruption that often comes with switching tools.

The impact

Since adopting Suptask, Strada has seen meaningful improvements across the board:

• Faster response and resolution times — Better queue visibility means tickets get picked up and resolved more quickly
• SLAs that actually work — The team can now set and reliably track service level agreements
• Stronger reporting — Accurate help desk stats give the team real data to measure performance and improve over time
• More tickets, fewer workarounds — With an easier submission experience, employees use the proper ticketing system instead of walking over or sending a direct Slack message
• Reduced operational overhead — Simplified workflows mean less time managing the system and more time resolving issues

The biggest shift has been a cultural one: employees now default to submitting tickets the right way. The volume of formal requests has grown, while informal workarounds have declined — a clear sign that the system is working.

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