Migrate from Helpwise to Intercom

Helpwise conversations (threaded by inbox/channel) map to Intercom conversations threaded by contact. The source channel type (email, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, calling) is preserved as a custom conversation attribute in Intercom. Message body, timestamps (created_at, updated_at), and author attribution migrate as-is. Thread ordering is preserved by sorting on the original message timestamp.

Helpwise contacts migrate 1:1 to Intercom contacts by email address. Name, email, phone, and custom contact properties map directly. Contact tags from Helpwise migrate as Intercom contact tags. Any duplicate email addresses in the source are flagged for merge before import; Intercom will reject duplicate contact creation by email unless the existing record is identified and the migration uses the internal ID.

Helpwise Shared Inboxes (one per channel: email, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS, live chat) map to Intercom Teams. Each Intercom Team gets an Inbox view filtered by the migrated channel attribute. Multi-brand setups (MSP/agency) requiring inbox isolation map to separate Intercom workspaces if the customer has multiple Intercom accounts, or to tagged team views within a single workspace.

Conversation tags and contact tags migrate as Intercom tags with names and color assignments preserved exactly. Tag counts are preserved; Intercom has no tag count limit. We do not rename or deduplicate tags unless explicitly requested during scoping. Tags used for routing in Helpwise Automation Rules are noted for manual reconfiguration in Intercom Workflows.

Helpwise internal notes attached to conversations migrate as internal (private) notes in Intercom, preserving the author, timestamp, and body text. Note visibility is maintained as internal-only in Intercom. We use the Intercom API to set note_type=internal on each note during import to prevent accidental customer-facing exposure.

Helpwise team members map by email address to Intercom teammates. We create the teammate record and assign them to the Intercom Teams corresponding to their Helpwise Shared Inbox access. If a team member email does not have an Intercom account, we flag it in the reconciliation queue before migration so the customer's admin provisions access. Inactive Helpwise team members migrate as inactive Intercom teammates unless the customer specifies otherwise.

Helpwise Saved Replies migrate to Intercom Templates. The shortcut code maps to Template title; the body content migrates with rich text preserved. Helpwise Standard caps Saved Replies at 15; if the source has more than 15, we present the gap at scoping and recommend either upgrading Helpwise to Premium or manually pruning the list before migration. Intercom has no template count cap.

Helpwise Help Center articles, categories, and published status migrate to Intercom Collect. Article URLs are rebuilt in Intercom; internal links within articles are updated to point to the new Intercom article URLs post-migration as part of the post-migration checklist. Helpwise article authors map to Intercom article authors where Intercom author profiles exist. Multilingual articles require manual setup in Intercom Help Center settings post-migration.

Helpwise custom contact fields migrate as custom contact attributes in Intercom. Field names and value picklists map directly where Intercom supports the same data type (string, number, date, boolean, single-select). Multi-select picklist values migrate as comma-separated strings. Any custom fields without an Intercom equivalent are flagged with a schema gap note for the customer's admin to review.

Automation Rules define assignment, tagging, forwarding, and routing behavior in Helpwise. We migrate the rule configuration as a written inventory (trigger, conditions, actions) with a recommended Intercom Workflow equivalent. Rules are not migrated as code because Helpwise Automation Rules and Intercom Workflows have different trigger models and condition syntax. The customer's admin rebuilds them in Intercom using the provided map.

SLA Rules are available only on Helpwise Advanced ($49/user). If the destination is an Intercom Starter or growing plan without Service Cloud SLA enforcement, SLA metadata is preserved as custom conversation attributes but automated SLA enforcement does not activate. We flag this gap at scoping and recommend upgrading the Intercom plan or adding Service Cloud if SLA monitoring is a compliance requirement.

CSAT scores and survey responses from Helpwise migrate where available in the API. Survey configuration (questions, triggers, thresholds) requires manual setup in Intercom because it is not exposed in Helpwise's public API. We preserve the score values and timestamps as custom conversation attributes in Intercom so historical satisfaction data is available in reporting.