How MSPs are winning with enhanced.io
How Shackleton Technologies turned security into a product it could sell and won higher-value contracts
The Dundee MSP stopped competing on Cyber Essentials and price. It packaged a SOC service it could sell as its own and moved up-market.
In short: Shackleton Technologies sold Cyber Essentials and endpoint protection, a commodity national rivals could undercut. With enhanced.io, Shackleton packaged a 24/7 SOC service it prices and sells under its own name, won 8 higher-value professional services and manufacturing contracts in the first year, and stopped losing clients to bundled national offers.
For years Shackleton sold what the Scottish market asked for. Cyber Essentials certification and endpoint protection. Help a client pass, maintain it each year, put an agent on the machines. It was steady work, and it was a commodity.
Two things turned the commodity into a problem. National MSPs moved into Scotland with bundled security and the budgets to undercut on price. And clients started asking questions the commodity could not answer. Who watches the network overnight. What happens when something gets through. What the response is when it does.
Shackleton had a certificate and an agent. It did not have a security service it could package, price and sell at a margin. Competing on Cyber Essentials and price meant competing on a floor that was dropping. Steve Ross needed something he could sell, not only deliver.
Why did Shackleton Technologies choose enhanced.io?
Steve’s question was commercial, not technical. Could he turn this into a service line he could put a price on and sell, without hiring a security team to run it?
enhanced.io gave him the service to sell. A 24/7 SOC delivered under Shackleton’s name, with human analysts behind it. A fixed monthly subscription Shackleton prices and marks up per client, so the economics of each deal are clear before it signs. A named Fractional Security Director to bring into client meetings, so Shackleton sells with a security lead in the room without hiring one.
Channel-only mattered most to the commercial case. enhanced.io never sells to Shackleton’s clients, so the service Shackleton packages stays Shackleton’s to sell and own. The partnership is built around Shackleton’s practice, not a vendor’s pipeline.
The onboarding gave the team the depth to sell it credibly. Steve’s people learned what they were delivering before they put it in front of clients, so the security conversation held up under questions.
enhanced.io
Your Team
Your Clients
Steve Ross
Managing Director, Shackleton Technologies
Multiple endpoint and EDR tools across the client base, kept in place and ingested by enhanced.io for cross-surface correlation
enhanced.io network detection and response across client environments
Microsoft 365, Azure, AWS and Google Workspace telemetry monitored for account takeover, mailbox rule abuse and data access anomalies
Identity monitoring across the client’s identity provider and directory, covering sign-in activity, account takeover, credential and MFA abuse, and privilege misuse
Available through enhanced.io where a client environment needs it. Not a focus of Shackleton’s current packaged service.
enhanced.io 24/7 SOC: alert triage, incident response and cross-surface correlation. Named Fractional Security Director for client conversations and ongoing advisory.
What results has Shackleton Technologies achieved with enhanced.io?
Security became a product Shackleton could sell, not a checkbox
Cyber Essentials was a certificate. The SOC-backed service is a product, with a price, a margin and a value a client understands. Shackleton moved from delivering compliance to selling protection.
Won higher-value professional services and manufacturing contracts
The packaged service opened conversations Shackleton was not competitive for before. In the first year of the partnership it won 8 new professional services and manufacturing contracts where the security service was the deciding factor, at higher values than its old Cyber Essentials work.
Stopped losing clients to national competitors
When national MSPs pitched Shackleton’s clients on bundled security, those clients already had it, under Shackleton’s name. Since launching the SOC-backed service, Shackleton has not lost a client to a national competitor.
Priced and packaged with predictable economics
The fixed monthly subscription means Shackleton knows its cost per client before it quotes, and prices for margin with no mid-year surprises. In the first year the packaged security line added around £85,000 in new annual recurring revenue. Security is a revenue line now, not an overhead.
A named security lead to sell and deliver with
The named Fractional Security Director sits in client meetings and answers the hard questions, so Shackleton sells a credible security service without hiring a security director. The expertise is there for the sale and for the delivery.
Steve Ross
Managing Director, Shackleton Technologies
What would Shackleton Technologies say to other MSPs facing the same problem?
Steve Ross’s view is direct. Competing on Cyber Essentials and price is competing on a floor that keeps dropping. The certificate is a starting point, not a product.
The move that changed Shackleton’s position was packaging the operational layer, the monitoring, the response and a named security lead, into a service it could price and sell. That is what clients now pay for, and what national competitors were selling into the gap.
Related content
Frequently asked questions
Questions we get asked
How can an MSP package security as a service it can sell?
Partner with a SOC provider that delivers under the MSP’s own name, then wrap the monitoring, detection and response into a named service with a clear price. The MSP sells the outcome, 24/7 protection and response, rather than a tool or a certificate. enhanced.io delivers the SOC and the named security lead, so the MSP has a product to sell from day one.
How do MSPs price a managed SOC service for clients?
How can an MSP win higher-value contracts with security?
How does an MSP stop competing on price against national providers?
What is the commercial model for SOC as a service for MSPs?
How does the named Fractional Security Director help win business?
Does enhanced.io sell directly to our clients?
