How TDM Group Helped The SR Group Migrate Recruitment
Operations Seamlessly to the Cloud
Company profile
The SR Group is a global recruitment and executive search firm headquartered in London, operating through five specialist consultancies: Brewer Morris, Carter Murray, Frazer Jones, Keller West, and Taylor Root. The company provides international recruitment expertise across key disciplines – including tax, finance, technology, and compliance. Its mission is to help businesses thrive and professionals advance at every stage of their careers.
The challenge
Ageing On-Premise IT Infrastructure
The SR Group saw the potential for technology to transform the speed, security, and precision of its recruitment operations – from securely handling large volumes of sensitive candidate data to enabling consultants to place more talent, faster. But an ageing on-premise Citrix environment made these gains difficult to achieve. The infrastructure had become costly to maintain, complex to manage, and increasingly misaligned with the firm’s evolving business goals – creating three key challenges:
Rigid Active Directory policies and physical servers limited scalability and slowed essential recruitment workflows – from candidate sourcing and screening to interview coordination and placement management.
Outdated remote-access tools made it difficult for consultants to work remotely on laptops, delaying client and candidate communication, reducing responsiveness, and directly impacting placement volumes – an operational roadblock that was accentuated during the pandemic.
Global expansion added further pressure, with latency issues and outdated collaboration tools hindering teamwork, slowing time-to-hire, and making it difficult to deliver cross-border IT support.
Ultimately, the rigidity of the legacy infrastructure created bottlenecks that affected revenue, consultant performance, and overall competitiveness in a dynamic marketplace.
The Solution
Seamless Migration to the Cloud to Increase Productivity and Reduce Costs
To overcome the constraints of its legacy infrastructure, The SR Group partnered with TDM Group to design and implement a cloud-first strategy that leverages Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure. Underpinning this transformation was TDM Group’s Managed Business IT Services (M-BiTS) framework – a holistic model that turns IT into a business enabler by aligning technology with strategic goals.
Acting as a strategic and technical extension of the internal IT team, TDM Group supported every phase of the journey – from design and implementation to ongoing support. Key initiatives included:
Cloud infrastructure migration
Legacy applications, including payroll and timesheet systems, were moved to Azure with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), providing secure, high-performance access to business-critical tools and enabling a future transition to SaaS.
Modernising collaboration
File servers were migrated to SharePoint, enabling faster document access across regions and strengthening governance. Consultants can seamlessly collaborate on candidate profiles, client materials, and market insights.
Regionalised phone systems
Locally hosted phone systems were deployed across all key regions, improving call quality and compliance while providing more efficient communication with clients and candidates – enhancing overall service delivery.
Enabling hybrid working
A global rollout of Lenovo laptops replaced outdated remote-access tools, allowing consultants to work securely from any location through Microsoft 365. This improved service delivery for candidates and clients, sped up placements, and supported a more resilient workforce.
Cloud identity and management
Transitioning from on-premise Active Directory to Microsoft Entra ID with Intune device management created a fully cloud-native environment with stronger security, simplified device management, and reduced consultant disruption – allowing them to focus on building client relationships and placing candidates.
They didn’t just act as a vendor. They became part of our team. Their expertise and support were key to our successful cloud migration. They brought specialist skills around Microsoft 365 and security, worked seamlessly with our people, and helped us deliver projects that added business value. We see them as a strategic partner we can always rely on.
Mark Hirst, The SR Group’s Global IT Director
The result
The SR Group’s migration, delivered in partnership with TDM Group, enabled a smooth shift to a cloud-first strategy, unlocking compelling business benefits across its global network:
Improved stability and performance
The new cloud environment delivers faster, more consistent performance across all regions, with service interruptions minimised. This resilience during peak recruitment periods ensures consultants and clients experience uninterrupted service.
Cost savings
Retiring Citrix and decommissioning on-premise servers has significantly reduced licensing, maintenance, and overhead costs. Azure’s pay-as-you-go model enables flexible cost control amid rapid hiring cycles and fluctuating market demand.
Improved scalability
Azure’s cloud-native environment allows the business to flex resources effortlessly in line with market demand. This agility enables the group to evolve at the right pace without major infrastructure changes or operational friction.
Flexible hybrid workforce
Cloud-based systems, regionalised telephony, and Microsoft 365 allow teams to work securely from anywhere, enhancing consultant efficiency, enabling global candidate and client engagement, and ensuring consistent service delivery.
Streamlined device management and deployment
Microsoft Autopilot and Intune enable rapid device rollout and simplified management, reducing IT workload. This allows new hires to be onboarded faster, improving time-to-productivity and supporting high-growth recruitment environments
Reduced attack surface
The removal of redundant devices and vendors has reduced security exposure by simplifying the overall architecture, empowering consultants to work more securely and with confidence.
Operational efficiency and strategic focus
With support tickets significantly reduced, the IT team can focus on strategic innovation that elevates client relationships, candidate placements, and supports scalable growth. Ongoing optimisation with TDM Group continues to refine performance, resilience, and efficiency.
Support ticket volume dropped by approximately 80% post-migration, shifting from widespread Citrix outages affecting entire offices to isolated, device-specific issues, greatly reducing resource drain on the IT team
explained Artur Pinto, The SR Group’s Head of Platforms and Infrastructure.
Collaborating into the Cloud
By establishing a strategic partnership built on close collaboration, TDM Group helped The SR Group seamlessly transition to a modern cloud-first environment that aligns with its objectives. By migrating to Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure, the group has eliminated legacy inefficiencies, empowered a flexible hybrid workforce, achieved significant cost savings, and become future-ready.
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