Why Channel-Based Alerts Beat Email

Email alerts are easy to ignore. They get buried in inboxes, filtered into folders, and lost among hundreds of daily messages. When a critical service goes down, you need your team to see the alert immediately — and that means meeting them where they already are.

Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord are where engineering teams live. Outage alerts in these channels get instant visibility, trigger real-time discussion, and ensure the right people are looped in.

Setting Up Slack Alerts

Step 1: Create a Dedicated Channel

Create a channel specifically for outage alerts:

  • Name: #service-alerts or #outage-notifications
  • Purpose: "Real-time alerts from ServiceAlert.ai for cloud service status changes"
  • Pin the channel so it stays visible in your sidebar

Step 2: Create a Slack Webhook

  • Go to your Slack workspace settings
  • Navigate to Apps → Incoming Webhooks (or search for "Incoming Webhooks")
  • Click Add to Slack
  • Choose your #service-alerts channel
  • Copy the webhook URL (it looks like https://hooks.slack.com/services/T.../B.../xxx)

    • Step 3: Configure in ServiceAlert.ai

  • Log into your ServiceAlert.ai dashboard
  • Go to Settings → Notifications
  • Paste your Slack webhook URL
  • Select which services you want alerts for
  • Choose alert types: degraded, partial outage, major outage, recovery

    • Slack Alert Format

    ServiceAlert.ai sends rich Slack messages with:

    • Service name and current status
    • Status change details (e.g., "Operational → Degraded")
    • Direct link to the service's status page
    • Timestamp of the status change

    Setting Up Microsoft Teams Alerts

    Step 1: Create an Alerts Channel

    In your Teams workspace:

    • Create a channel: Service Alerts under your engineering team
    • Set notifications to "All new posts" for team members who need immediate visibility

    Step 2: Create a Teams Webhook

  • Open the channel where you want alerts
  • Click the ... menu → Connectors (or Workflows in newer Teams versions)
  • Search for Incoming Webhook
  • Click Configure, give it a name like "ServiceAlert.ai"
  • Copy the webhook URL

    • Step 3: Configure in ServiceAlert.ai

  • In your dashboard settings, go to Notifications
  • Paste your Teams webhook URL in the Microsoft Teams field
  • Select services and alert types

    • Teams Alert Format

    Alerts appear as Adaptive Cards in Teams with:

    • Color-coded status indicators
    • Service name and status change
    • Action button to view the full status page

    Setting Up Discord Alerts

    Step 1: Create a Dedicated Channel

    In your Discord server:

    • Create a text channel: #service-alerts
    • Set permissions so only the webhook can post (optional but keeps the channel clean)

    Step 2: Create a Discord Webhook

  • Right-click the channel → Edit Channel
  • Go to Integrations → Webhooks
  • Click New Webhook
  • Name it "ServiceAlert.ai" and copy the webhook URL

    • Step 3: Configure in ServiceAlert.ai

  • In your dashboard settings, go to Notifications
  • Paste your Discord webhook URL
  • Select services and alert types

    • Discord Alert Format

    Alerts appear as rich embeds with:

    • Color-coded sidebar (green/yellow/orange/red based on severity)
    • Service name and status details
    • Clickable links to status pages

    Best Practices for Alert Channels

    1. Separate Alerts from Discussion

    Keep your alert channel for alerts only. Create a separate #incident-response channel for discussion during active incidents.

    2. Configure Alert Levels Wisely

    Not every status change needs an alert:

    • Always alert: Major outages, partial outages
    • Consider alerting: Degraded performance
    • Optional: Recovery notifications (useful for knowing when to stand down)

    3. Use Multiple Channels

    Send critical infrastructure alerts (AWS, Azure, Cloudflare) to a high-urgency channel. Send less critical service alerts to a lower-priority channel.

    4. Set Up Redundancy

    If Slack is your primary alert channel, what happens when Slack itself goes down? Configure at least two alert channels (e.g., Slack + email, or Teams + Discord).

    Getting Started

    ServiceAlert.ai supports all three platforms out of the box. Sign up for a team plan and have alerts flowing to your channels in under 5 minutes.

    Set up your alerts now | View supported services