Within the Asia Pacific recruitment market, Talon Recruitment Solutions Pty Ltd. has found success by bucking the trend for industry specialisation. Instead, the multifaceted recruitment agency has embraced a deliberate strategy of diversity and has concentrated on developing a deep understanding of its customers. It’s an approach that has led to close, decade-long relationships with clients and has helped to shield the firm from many of the downturns experienced by individual industries, particularly since the global economic crisis.

Until 2014, Talon Recruitment Solutions Pty Ltd. maintained an on-premise IT infrastructure.

To keep the system running smoothly one staff member provided limited administrative support, working under the guidance of an external services company that supplied full management and help desk support for the infrastructure.

A little over a year ago however, Kane Addison, Director at Talon Recruitment Solutions Pty Ltd., realised the firm needed to re-examine its IT strategy. The on-site server was close to capacity and each database backup was rapidly filling what little space was left. When an appeal for help to the integration partner merely resulted in a quote for a new server, Talon Recruitment Solutions Pty Ltd. management decided it was time for a new solution and a new partner.

Due to the nature of the recruitment industry it was essential that Talon Recruitment Solutions Pty Ltd. deploy a system capable of quickly scaling up or down to accommodate fluctuating staff numbers. Also, with many clients located in Asia, staff frequently deal with a variety of time zones. This means users must be able to access systems at any time of day. Above all, ease of management is critical as the agency has no dedicated internal IT resource and no specialist IT knowledge.

The company contacted Professional Advantage to discuss possible solutions to the dilemma. Rather than swapping a new server for the old one, Professional Advantage recommended an approach that would avoid any new investment in hardware. They suggested Talon Recruitment Solutions Pty Ltd. move its email to the cloud with Office 365 and they also recommended switching other key applications to the cloud.

• The cloud-based solution frees staff from the physical office, enabling them to log on and efficiently perform their roles from home or any other location equipped with an internet connection.
• Staff love the new ease and convenience of accessing business systems.
• Office 365 has delivered the scalability that The Talon Group sought, making it a simple matter to add or remove users as staff numbers change – something that is particularly important given the company’s plans for growth in the year ahead.
• Annual software licensing fees have been replaced with a more easily budgeted, more convenient monthly fee.
• To capitalise on the mobility and immediacy offered by the cloud, all staff were recently equipped with Surface Pro tablets. These are now being used to take and instantly uploading meeting notes, thus reducing administrative tasks and removing delays in data capture