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About bluecoat ITClear strategy. Strong security. IT that works for you.
A small team in Durbanville looking after the technology of growing businesses across Cape Town. Small enough that you know who you are talking to, structured enough that nothing depends on someone remembering.
bluecoat IT was founded in 2020, just before lockdown changed the way businesses work overnight. While a lot of people were scrambling, we leaned in. With over two decades of IT experience behind us, we found our niche quickly: helping smaller businesses work in a digital-first world with some confidence about it.
What was missing in this market was not support. It was managed IT that treated security as part of the service rather than an upsell. Not break-fix, not half-hearted check-ins, but structured, secure and strategic IT built around each client's goals, risks and realities.
Today we look after a growing base of small and mid-sized businesses across South Africa, with fast support, proactive protection and straight guidance. Whether you are just getting started or scaling quickly, the aim is the same: technology that works for you rather than against you.

Small but mighty
You get the same people every time. They know your setup, which is why problems get solved rather than triaged.

Ray Leslie
Founder
Over 20 years of hands-on IT experience, from enterprise environments through to growing businesses. Since launching bluecoat IT in 2020 he has built it around a simple promise: deliver good service, keep clients secure and make IT feel easy.

Anrich van Hoogstraten
Support
Onsite and remote support across installs, day-to-day requests and the network work that keeps client sites running.
Nicky
AI receptionist
Nicky answers the phone, takes down what you need and logs the ticket so it reaches the right person. She is AI, and we say so up front. The point is that nothing gets lost while we are heads-down on someone else's problem.
Nicky is our own answer to a problem every small business has: calls that arrive while everyone is already busy. She handles the intake, a person handles the work. If you would rather talk to one of us, just say so and she will put you through. It is also a fair demonstration of what we help clients do, which is adopt AI where it genuinely helps.
Why clients tend to stay
The best IT support is not really about tools. It is about people who understand your business and pick up the phone.
We have walked in your shoes
We are a small business too. The demands you are under are the same ones we are under, so we tend to understand what actually matters.
Fast, human support
No call centres. Real people who know your setup and get involved quickly when something goes wrong. No scripts, just solutions.
Your business comes first
Our first priority is doing the right thing for you and your team, even when that means less profit for us. Clients seem to like it.
Size does not matter to us
A hundred staff across a complex network, or one person with a laptop. Same care, same attention, same people answering.
Everything is documented
Your environment is written down and kept current, so support does not depend on one person's memory, ours or yours.
Security is not an add-on
Every environment we run follows a secure baseline from day one, and we report on it monthly rather than when someone asks.
Two decades in, and still fixing broken IT
Ray has been working in technology for well over 20 years, long before hybrid work, ransomware or cloud-first were things anyone said out loud. The tools have changed completely. The motivation has not: helping people and solving problems.
After working across a wide range of industries and seeing how poorly most smaller businesses were being served, he started bluecoat IT in 2020, right before the world went remote. Clear strategy, no-nonsense support and security-first thinking, which is to say the kind of IT company he had spent years wishing existed.
Today bluecoat IT supports growing businesses across South Africa, combining personal service with real technical depth, and just the right amount of healthy obsession.
In their words, not ours
Reviews left on our Google Business Profile.
"bluecoat IT is proof that service-with-a-smile and excellence still exist. Ray is amazing, response time is lightning fast and the result is spot-on. We're truly glad we made the switch."
Google review
"bluecoat IT adds great value to our business. They give input and solutions that align with our strategy and respect our limits, without ever compromising on the quality of service we expect and require."
Google review
"I've never had better IT support than bluecoat IT's. Since using them, our systems run seamlessly. They truly deliver excellent and reliable service, I'd highly recommend bluecoat IT to anyone."
Google review
Come and have a chat
No scripted sales call. Tell us how your business runs and we will be straight with you about what would actually help. Go on, pop the kettle on.