For decades, the traditional MSP service desk followed a relatively simple formula. The frontline team consisted primarily of L1 Engineers whose role was to answer calls, acknowledge tickets, perform basic troubleshooting, and escalate anything more complex to a senior engineer. This model evolved because it was cost-effective and aligned with the way MSPs measured performance. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) were often built around response times, so having a team of junior engineers available to quickly respond to customer requests was considered a successful service delivery strategy.
However, the MSP industry is changing rapidly. Customer expectations have evolved, labour markets have shifted, and the availability of highly skilled offshore talent has fundamentally altered the economics of building a service desk. As a result, more MSPs are questioning whether a traditional L1-first model still makes sense.
Increasingly, the answer is no.
Today, many MSPs are discovering that they can hire experienced offshore L2 Engineers for less than half the cost of an onshore L1 Engineer. This is creating a significant opportunity to rethink how support teams are structured and, more importantly, how customer experience is delivered.
The Problem with Measuring Success Through Response Times
Historically, MSPs focused heavily on response SLAs because they were easy to measure and report on. If a customer submitted a ticket and received a response within the agreed timeframe, the MSP could demonstrate that it was meeting its contractual obligations.
The challenge is that customers rarely care about response times in isolation.
Imagine a customer who cannot access their email, connect to a business-critical application, or log into their workstation. They submit a ticket and receive a response within fifteen minutes informing them that their issue has been logged and assigned for investigation. Technically, the MSP has delivered on its SLA commitment.
From the customer's perspective, however, nothing has been achieved. The unresolved issue continues to affect their productivity, and they are now waiting for someone else to fix it.
This highlights a growing disconnect between traditional service desk metrics and what customers value.
Most customers do not measure their experience based on how quickly someone acknowledges their issue. They measure it based on how quickly the issue is resolved and how much effort they had to invest in getting that resolution.
The MSPs that understand this distinction are increasingly redesigning their support teams around customer outcomes rather than traditional service desk structures.
The Rise of Customer Experience as a Key Metric
Over the last several years, customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and customer retention have become significantly more important indicators of service quality than raw response times.
Customers are increasingly comparing their MSP experience against the service levels they receive from modern consumer technology companies. They expect quick answers, knowledgeable support staff, and rapid resolution of issues. They have little patience for being transferred between multiple technicians or having to repeat the same information multiple times.
This shift has led many MSPs to focus on a metric that arguably matters far more than response time: First Touch Resolution.
First Touch Resolution measures how often a customer issue is resolved during the initial interaction without requiring escalation to another engineer. It is one of the strongest indicators of both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction because it directly reflects the customer's experience.
When issues are resolved during the first interaction, customers experience less downtime, spend less time following up on tickets, and develop greater confidence in their MSP. Internally, the MSP benefits as well because fewer escalations mean lower ticket handling costs and more efficient use of engineering resources.
The challenge for traditional L1 service desk teams is that many issues naturally exceed their technical capabilities. While they may be able to perform initial troubleshooting, a significant percentage of tickets ultimately require escalation to a more experienced engineer.
This creates delays, increases ticket handling time, and often frustrates customers.
Why L2 Engineers Are Becoming the New Frontline
An experienced L2 Engineer brings a completely different capability profile to the frontline support function.
Rather than simply gathering information and escalating tickets, they typically possess the technical expertise required to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve a wide range of issues independently. Whether the problem relates to Microsoft 365, Azure, networking, security platforms, endpoint management, or line-of-business applications, an L2 Engineer is often capable of identifying the root cause and implementing a solution during the initial interaction.
This dramatically changes the customer experience.
Instead of hearing that their issue has been escalated to another team, customers receive immediate assistance from someone with the skills to actually solve the problem. Resolution times decrease, customer frustration reduces, and confidence in the MSP increases.
For many MSPs, the results have been significant. First Touch Resolution rates improve, CSAT scores increase, and support teams become more efficient because fewer tickets move between multiple engineers.
Perhaps most importantly, customers feel that they are dealing with experts from the very first interaction.
Offshore Talent Is Rewriting the Economics
The primary reason many MSPs historically relied on L1 Engineers was cost.
The difference in salary between an L1 and L2 Engineer in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, or North America was often substantial. MSPs could hire multiple junior resources for the cost of a single senior engineer, making the decision relatively straightforward from a financial perspective.
The emergence of mature offshore talent markets has changed this equation completely.
Today, MSPs can access highly capable L2 Engineers from countries such as Sri Lanka at a fraction of the cost of their onshore counterparts. In many cases, the monthly cost of an offshore L2 Engineer is significantly lower than the fully loaded cost of an onshore L1 Engineer.
This creates a unique opportunity.
Instead of choosing between affordability and capability, MSPs can now have both. They can place highly skilled engineers on the frontline while simultaneously improving profitability.
For MSP owners who are under constant pressure to increase margins, this approach is an incredibly compelling proposition.
Rather than adding more junior resources to manage growing ticket volumes, they can invest in engineers who resolve more issues, deliver a better customer experience, and contribute more value from day one.
A Better Experience for Customers and Engineers
Interestingly, this shift benefits not only customers but also engineering teams.
Traditional L1 roles can often become repetitive and transactional. Engineers spend much of their time logging tickets, gathering information, and passing issues to someone else. While these roles have traditionally served as entry points into the industry, they can sometimes create frustration for ambitious technical professionals who want to develop their skills more quickly.
A service desk built around more capable engineers tends to be more engaging. Empowering team members to solve problems, interact directly with customers, and take ownership of outcomes fosters a more engaging service desk built around capable engineers.
This often leads to greater job satisfaction, stronger technical development, and improved employee retention.
At a time when attracting and retaining talent remains one of the biggest challenges facing MSPs, these benefits should not be overlooked.
The Future of the MSP Service Desk
The traditional tiered support model is unlikely to disappear entirely. There will always be value in having structured escalation paths and specialist expertise available for complex issues.
However, the assumption that every service desk must be built around large numbers of L1 Engineers is increasingly being challenged.
The combination of rising customer expectations, increasing focus on customer experience, and access to affordable offshore talent is causing MSPs to rethink what an effective service desk looks like.
The most progressive MSPs are no longer asking how quickly they can acknowledge a ticket. They are asking how quickly they can solve the customer's problem.
That subtle change in thinking is driving a significant transformation across the industry.
As offshore talent continues to mature and customer expectations continue to rise, it is likely that more MSPs will place experienced L2 Engineers at the frontline of their support operations. Those that do will not only improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency but will also position themselves to deliver a level of service that differentiates them in an increasingly competitive market.
The future service desk is not built around response times. It is built around resolutions. And that is why more MSPs are choosing L2 Engineers over L1s.
If you’re rethinking how your service desk is structured, it may be worth having a conversation.