Workspace 365: The Dutch Scale-Up Turning Digital Overload into Simplicity
Erik Nicolai, co-founder and CEO, Workspace 365
Fifteen years ago, Erik Nicolai and Hans de Graaf were frustrated.
The software systems they used every day refused to work together.
“There was a whole landscape of applications that didn’t cooperate with each other,” says Nicolai. “We wanted to build something that encompassed everything.”
That frustration became the seed of Workspace 365 — a Dutch company that today helps more than 2,000 organisations and 300,000 employees across Europe cut through digital clutter. Its browser-based “adaptive digital workplace” unites apps, documents, and communication in one clean interface. Instead of juggling portals, users open a single dashboard that adapts to their workday.
From Startup Idea to Digital Workplace Platform
When Workspace 365 launched in 2010, the workplace was in the midst of a messy digital transition. Businesses were moving from local servers to web-based applications, but every system came with its own log-in, storage and workflow logic. Nicolai and De Graaf wanted to bring coherence — one digital workspace where everything lived together.
The idea struck a chord. Early adopters liked the simplicity, but many still hesitated to abandon familiar environments. Companies, Nicolai noticed, didn’t want a brand-new system; they wanted something that worked with what they already had.
The Microsoft Pivot
That insight would define Workspace 365’s evolution. In 2013, the company made a decisive shift: rather than positioning its platform as a standalone alternative, it chose to integrate deeply with Microsoft’s rapidly expanding cloud ecosystem.
“What we offered worked well, but we found that people resisted change,” Nicolai explains. “They didn’t want to throw away what they had — and what they had was Microsoft infrastructure.”
As Microsoft’s Office 365 suite became the backbone of corporate IT, Workspace 365 rebuilt its platform to unify tools such as SharePoint, Exchange and OneDrive in a single adaptive interface. It allowed organisations to modernise their digital workplace without abandoning the familiar.
“That’s when our business really took off, also internationally,” Nicolai recalls.
Growing Quietly, Globally
Internationalisation followed naturally.
“We’ve had partners in the UK virtually from the start through our partners, for example.” Nicolai notes. “But in 2018, we decided to give our partners there stronger, local support, and set up a physical presence there.”
Rather than expanding through direct sales, Workspace 365 built a network of more than 130 managed-service providers and IT resellers. These partners embed the platform into their own offerings, tailoring it for local markets while Workspace 365 focuses on product development and integration.
That model has given the company reach and resilience, with deployments spanning healthcare, education and local government — sectors that value stability and security as much as innovation.
Behind the Logo: A White-Label Approach
A key success factor, according to Nicolai, is that they offer their platform as a white-label product, allowing partners and customers to rebrand it with their own logos, colours and identity.
For users, it means a seamless experience that feels native to their organisation. For partners, it’s a ready-made digital-workspace engine they can call their own. For Workspace 365, it’s quiet scale — powering hundreds of branded platforms across Europe.
Listening and Adapting
That user-centric ethos also shapes how the company evolves. Around 30 percent of Workspace 365’s product roadmap is directly inspired by customer feedback, Nicolai estimates. The company maintains a tight feedback loop through its partners, allowing it to adapt quickly to changing work habits and technologies.
AI That Stays Out of the Way
Over time, Workspace 365 has expanded from an app launcher into what it calls an adaptive digital workspace — a cloud-based environment that integrates everything from legacy systems to modern SaaS tools. The interface presents only what each user needs at a given moment, cutting down noise and boosting focus.
Artificial intelligence is a key ingredient in that evolution.
“What you need from your Workspace 365 dashboard in the morning might be different from what you need at the end of the day,” Nicolai says. “AI helps make that possible.”
The company is embedding AI across its platform — from context-aware search and workflow automation to “micro-apps” that handle routine actions such as approvals or document requests. The result is a workspace that learns what’s relevant to each user and surfaces it at the right moment — an intelligent layer that supports attention rather than competing for it.
Scaling Simplicity
Fifteen years in, Workspace 365 remains independent. Its growth strategy focuses on deepening European presence, strengthening partner networks, enhancing security, and extending AI-driven capabilities.
Keeping the Startup Spirit Alive
He sees culture as the biggest test of success.
“The challenge is to stay true to ourselves as we grow,” he says. “We want to keep our can-do, startup mentality and stay a little rebellious. We love being entrepreneurs, and we love the Dutch entrepreneurial culture. You never know what happens, of course, but I can’t see ourselves as part of a big tech company anytime soon. Our mission has been the same since day one — to make work simpler. That’s still our compass.”