CASE STUDY
Reapit’s Scaling Story: Dedicated Offshore Teams Built for Real Growth
To support rapid growth when local hiring could not keep pace, Reapit partnered with Emapta to build a dedicated operations team in the Philippines. The focus was not a transactional outsourcing arrangement. It was a long-term partnership built around scalable talent, continuity, and customer care.
Industry:
Real Estate Technology (PropTech)
Network Size:
800+ employees
Headquarters:
London, United Kingdom
Reapit helps real estate agencies run better with integrated technology that supports day-to-day operations and long-term growth. With a global footprint across multiple regions, the business supports thousands of estate agency branches and the teams behind them.
For Lee Ayliff, Regional Vice President of Customer Operations, the pressure point came earlier in the company’s growth journey, when the business (then operating as Agentbox) needed to scale quickly. Hiring at the speed required was a real challenge in the Australian market, so leadership explored global options.
That search led them to Emapta, who could provide the resources and skill sets needed to scale fast, then keep scaling through the next stage of growth.
Years in Business:
Founded in 1997 (25+ years supporting agencies)
Remote Team:
14 Emapta employees
Years with Emapta:
5 years, since 2020
Global Scale :
19,000+ estate agency branches 95,000+ sales and lettings agents 1.2 million+ properties under management
Team Size:
850 people globally
The Challenge: Built to Help Real Estate Agencies Grow
Reapit provides integrated technology designed to help real estate agencies run day-to-day operations and build stronger customer relationships, at scale.
For high-growth businesses, the biggest operational risk is not ambition. It is capacity. If hiring cannot keep up, customer experience and delivery speed feel it first.
The Turning Point: When Growth Outpaced the Local Hiring Market
According to Ayliff, the business needed to scale quickly, but doing so in the Australian market was challenging at the time. With a relatively small team then, leadership began exploring global options to access the right skills and add capacity faster.
“Scaling as quickly as we needed to was going to be a real challenge in the Australian market,” Ayliff pointed out.
What was at stake:
- Speed to scale that matched market demand
- Operational capacity without stalling growth
- Service continuity as volume and complexity increased
What Reapit Wanted from a Partner
The key requirement was simple and specific: partnership.
Ayliff emphasizes, “The partnership piece is very important. We wanted someone who we could grow with.”
Reapit did not want a vendor model where output is purchased and delivered as a fixed transaction. Instead, they wanted a team they could build with and invest in over time.
What mattered most:
- A partner they could trust and grow with
- The flexibility to meet requirements as the business evolved
- A long-term model focused on hiring, retention, and development
- A setup designed for continuity, not churn
The Impact: A Dedicated Staffing Model with Emapta
Reapit partnered with Emapta to support scaling through a dedicated team approach, building capability that could expand over time.
As a result, certain aspects of Reapit’s operational output were run from the Philippines, supporting core operations and helping the business keep pace as it grew.
How the model supported scale:
- Dedicated team members aligned to Reapit’s operational needs
- A retention-focused approach where tenure was treated as a strength, not a nice-to-have
- Capacity that supported growth without compromising service
The Difference: Continuity, Scale, and Customer Care
What made all the difference? According to Lee, the decision was not driven by cost-cutting. The priority was growth, service, and quality.
“We didn’t attack it on the basis of stripping cost out of the business,” Ayliff adds. “We wanted to add scale in the business.”
The outcomes Reapit achieved by partnering with Emapta:
- Scalability that helped Reapit grow beyond earlier constraints
- Long-term continuity, including team members who have been there since the early stages
- A stronger focus on service and the quality of care delivered to customers
- A scalable operational foundation that supported major business milestones over time
Key takeaways:
- Partnership beats transactions
Reapit looked for a team they could build with, not a vendor they could buy output from.
- Scale works when people stay
Tenure and development created continuity, which supported service quality as the business grew.
- Strong internal foundations still matter
Process and culture have to be right internally, or any outsourcing strategy will struggle.
“Make sure you partner with the right people. Partnership is the key word there. I’d highly recommend Emapta.”
Lee Ayliff,
Regional Vice President of Customer Operations
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