Managed IT Support and Cyber Security
TLS (Traffic Labour Supplies) Group
Founded in 2010 to meet the labour demands of the UK traffic management industry, TLS Group has grown into a multi-divisional managed support partner operating nationwide across four divisions: TLS Traffic, the UK’s largest traffic labour agency supplying skilled personnel at all levels; TLS Construction, a sector-specific recruitment agency covering all trades and executive positions; TLS Logistics, supplying driving and warehousing personnel; and TLS Asset Hire, providing specialist commercial vehicle rental. Headquartered at Yorkshire House in Hensall, TLS supports some of the most recognisable names in UK infrastructure and logistics, including Amey, Colas, Chevron, Clancy, Tarmac, Marshalls, Parcelforce and Wincanton.
As a managed labour and recruitment business, TLS handles a constant flow of sensitive personal data, including operative records, right-to-work documentation, qualifications and licences, timesheets, payroll and bank details, across a workforce deployed on highways and construction sites around the clock. Roadworks and traffic management do not keep office hours, so the systems that connect TLS’s coordinators, field teams and clients must be available, secure and properly supported at all times.
Executive Summary
TLS Group engaged TwentyFour IT Services after recognising that its previous IT provider was no longer keeping pace with the demands of a growing, multi-divisional, 24/7 operation. Support had become reactive rather than proactive, response times were inconsistent, and the business lacked clear visibility of its devices, licensing and security posture. The decision to move was driven by confidence as much as capability: senior staff at TLS had worked with members of the TwentyFour team previously and knew first-hand the standard of service they could expect.
Recruitment and labour supply businesses are attractive targets for cyber crime. High volumes of personal and financial data, weekly payroll runs, and constant invoice and timesheet traffic between clients, umbrella companies and operatives create ideal conditions for phishing, Business Email Compromise (BEC) and payment-diversion fraud. For a business trusted by major infrastructure contractors and responsible for paying a large deployed workforce, the consequences of a breach extend far beyond downtime, putting operative pay, client relationships and contractual standing at risk.
Through a structured onboarding and assessment of TLS’s environment, TwentyFour IT Services identified the risks and gaps that mattered most to a nationwide labour supply operation and designed a transition and modernisation programme around them. The result is a secure, centrally managed and proactively supported foundation that protects operative and client data, keeps the business running around the clock, and gives TLS the responsive, supportive service it was missing.
Objectives
TLS Group’s goals centred on securing a genuinely proactive and responsive managed IT partner, protecting the personal and payroll data it holds in line with its UK GDPR obligations, and defending the business against email-borne fraud, while modernising its devices and identity controls and maintaining a familiar working environment across all four divisions. Continuity of service was critical throughout: labour bookings, payroll and client communications could not be disrupted during the transition from the incumbent provider. These priorities required a carefully planned onboarding programme between TwentyFour’s implementation engineers and TLS that balanced security requirements with the practical realities of a round-the-clock operation, with every change clearly communicated as part of TwentyFour’s wider Change Management implementation strategies.
Technical Solution & Implementation
Service Transition and Onboarding
TwentyFour IT managed a structured transition from the outgoing provider, taking ownership of licensing, vendor relationships, documentation and administrative access in a controlled handover designed to avoid any interruption to day-to-day operations. From day one, TLS staff had a clear route into a responsive UK-based service desk, with agreed service levels and out-of-hours support arrangements aligned to the demands of a 24/7 traffic management operation.
Assessment and Visibility
Microsoft 365 Foundation
Endpoint Modernisation and Zero Trust
Data Protection and Business Continuity
Ongoing Technology and Security Governance
Outcomes and Benefits
Through a controlled provider transition and a targeted uplift of its security controls, devices and email defences, TLS Group now operates on a secure, centrally managed and resilient technology foundation, backed by the proactive, responsive support it set out to find. Operative, payroll and client data are protected by Zero Trust-led endpoint security, hardened identity controls and robust email fraud defences, while encrypted backup and a documented recovery plan ensure the business can meet its commitments to clients and its workforce whatever happens.
By partnering with TwentyFour IT Services, TLS Group has gained more than a supplier; it has gained a managed support partner that mirrors its own promise to clients, because in a business that keeps the UK’s roadworks staffed around the clock, the systems behind every booking, every timesheet and every payslip have to be just as dependable as the people on site.
“I have worked with members of the TwentyFour IT team when in a previous role and had confidence in their ability to support our business. Based on those experiences, I felt they would provide a more proactive, responsive, and supportive service than our previous provider.”
Jamie, TLS Group
