MSPs that scale, without burning out the bench.
Scaleshore is the Employer of Record for UK, EU, and US businesses building teams in South Africa. We employ talent locally on your behalf — handling contracts, statutory contributions, and full labour-law compliance — so you can hire in days, not months.
L1 to L3 support. NOC. SOC.
Office-based.
25% FTR improvement
Margin compression is real.
Hiring locally isn't the answer.
Every UK and US MSP we talk to has the same problem: SLA pressure is rising, ticket volumes are up, but local engineer salaries have moved faster than retainer pricing. Hiring more L1s in Manchester or Manhattan is no longer a viable path to growth.
Salary inflation
UK MSP engineer salaries up 18-22% since 2022. Retainer prices haven't moved.
SLA pressure
Customers expect faster response. The bench is already stretched.
Hiring cycles
8-12 weeks to fill a UK MSP engineer role. Backlog grows during the wait.
Talent shortage
UK CompTIA-certified engineers are over-subscribed. Senior talent has left.
Most offshore providers are generic.
We're built for MSPs.
Global EOR platforms employ developers, marketers, and finance staff — fine, but they don't know what an SLA breach looks like at 9pm. We understand MSP workflows because we've placed L1s into ConnectWise queues, NOC engineers into 24/7 rotations, and SOC analysts into SIEM environments.
48% Cost reduction
Average MSP cost saving across L1-L3 support tiers vs equivalent UK hire, while improving SLA adherence.
30% Backlog reduction
Typical reduction in operational backlog within the first quarter of onboarding a Scaleshore-staffed team.
25% FTR improvement
Improvement in first-time resolution rates from properly governed, properly trained offshore service desk teams.
Every layer of the MSP stack.
From triage desk to security operations centre. Office-based delivery, not remote freelancers — your offshore team works from a managed Cape Town office on managed devices, under Cyber Essentials Plus controls.
L1 Support Engineer
- Ticket triage and first-line resolution
- Password resets, user provisioning, basic troubleshooting
- Trained on ConnectWise, Autotask, Halo, Freshservice
- CompTIA A+, Microsoft Fundamentals certified
- Typical cost: 45-55% lower than UK equivalent
L2 Support Engineer
- Server and network troubleshooting
- Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Workspace expertise
- Escalation handling from L1
- CompTIA Network+, MS-100, AZ-104 certifications
- Typical cost: 50-60% lower than UK equivalent
L3 Support / Infrastructure Engineer
- Complex root-cause analysis
- Architecture decisions and infrastructure design
- Mentor and quality control for L1/L2
- Senior Microsoft, AWS, or Cisco certifications
- Typical cost: 50-55% lower than UK equivalent
SOC Analyst (Blue Team)
- SIEM monitoring and alert triage
- Incident response and threat hunting
- Trained on Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk, Defender
- CompTIA Security+, MS SC-200, GCIH certifications
- Typical cost: 45-55% lower than UK equivalent
Cloud Engineer / DevOps
- Azure, AWS, GCP infrastructure
- CI/CD pipeline design and maintenance
- Infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Bicep)
- AZ-305, AWS Solutions Architect Pro
- Typical cost: 50-60% lower than UK equivalent
Service Desk Manager
- SLA management and reporting
- Team leadership across L1/L2/L3
- Customer escalation handling
- ITIL Foundation, PRINCE2 trained
- Typical cost: 50-55% lower than UK equivalent
An extension of your team.
Not a separate service provider.
Other offshore providers run their own ticketing, their own queue, their own brand. Your customers see two different service experiences. We don't. Your Scaleshore team works inside your PSA, on your phone numbers, under your brand — invisible to your end customer.
Your offshore team logs into your ConnectWise, Autotask, or HaloPSA. Tickets stay in your system.
They answer your phone lines, sign off your emails, follow your runbooks. Invisible to the customer.
We operate to your customer SLAs, not generic ones. Performance reviewed monthly against your KPIs.
Your security policies, your access controls, your data handling rules. CE+ certified to MSP standards.
What MSPs ask, before they sign.
Do your engineers work in our PSA or yours?
Yours. Your Scaleshore-staffed engineers log into your ConnectWise, Autotask, HaloPSA, Freshservice, or Datto Autotask just like a UK employee would. We don’t run a separate ticketing layer. The integration is invisible to your end customers — they see your brand, your SLAs, your runbooks.
What time zones can your team cover?
South Africa runs on GMT+2 — full working-day overlap with UK and EU service hours. For 24/7 coverage (NOC, SOC, follow-the-sun support), we can blend SA delivery with Philippines (GMT+8) or US team-supplementary shifts. Most MSPs run SA-only for business hours and add a second-shift roster for after-hours.
How is this different from offshore staffing agencies like Beam or LATAM-focused providers?
Three differences. First, we’re an EOR not a staffing agency — your team are legally employed by us, not contracted on a daily rate, so the relationship is stable and IR35-clean. Second, we’re MSP-specialised — we don’t dabble in finance or marketing roles, we focus on technical service delivery. Third, we’re office-based — your team works from a managed Cape Town office with CE+ controls, not from kitchen tables.
Can we trial a single engineer before scaling?
Yes. Most MSPs start with one L1 or L2 engineer for a 90-day proof of concept. If the integration works (and it almost always does), we typically scale to 3-5 engineers within the first six months. Our 90-day replacement guarantee covers the trial period — if the fit isn’t right, we re-source at no recruitment cost.
How do you handle ITIL processes and certifications?
Every Scaleshore MSP placement is ITIL Foundation trained as a baseline. Senior placements (L3, Service Desk Manager) typically hold ITIL Practitioner or higher. We also support and fund role-specific certifications — CompTIA, Microsoft, Cisco, AWS — as ongoing professional development.
What does an MSP-staffed Scaleshore team cost?
For a fully managed offshore L2 Support Engineer, including the engineer’s loaded salary in South Africa, plus Scaleshore’s £550-per-employee monthly service fee (EOR + Payroll + Office), the typical all-in cost is £2,200-£2,800 per month. The equivalent UK L2 hire (loaded salary, employer NI, recruitment fee amortised, office costs) typically runs £5,000-£6,500 per month. Cost calculator at cost-calculator.