Modern workplace: what it is and what it costs

Modern workplace, digital workplace, Microsoft workspace: they are different names for the same idea. A workplace you log in to with one account, where your files sit in one central place and where management and security are taken care of remotely. Microsoft has a fixed way of building it, and we deliver that from the Netherlands, in two versions. In this article you can read what the modern workplace is, which five building blocks it consists of, what the two versions cost, where your data sits and how to get started. The route most companies choose is the Online Workspace, and the full overview is on modern workplace.

The Online Workspace costs €38 per user per month + Microsoft 365 Business Premium €19.56 = €57.56 all-in; already have Business Premium, then you only pay the €38. Your desktop, your files and your applications run on our own servers in Eindhoven and Den Bosch, so your data stays in the Netherlands. See Online Workspace.

What Microsoft means by the modern workplace

The modern workplace is not a product you buy in a box. It is the way Microsoft builds a workplace: no longer around a server in the office, but around the employee's account. Microsoft uses the English term modern workplace. In Dutch you also come across digitale werkplek and Microsoft workspace. Whichever of those terms you search for, in practice it means the same thing.

The difference with the way many offices worked ten years ago is the starting point. Back then the hardware decided what you could do: you sat at a pc connected to the network, and outside the office you needed a VPN. Now your account decides what you see. You log in once and your workplace, your email and your applications know who you are. Where you are sitting and which device you use no longer matter.

That gives you four things you notice straight away: new employees are working the same day, someone who leaves is removed everywhere in one action, updates and security run along in the background, and you can demonstrate who has access to which data. That last point is exactly what an accountant, a healthcare organisation or an auditor asks of you.

The five building blocks of a modern workplace

Every modern workplace consists of five parts. They belong together: leave one out and you will have to set it up later anyway.

1. One identity. Every employee has one account in Microsoft Entra. It opens their workplace, their email and their applications. MFA through Microsoft Entra is part of it, so a stolen password on its own is not enough. This is the heart of the workplace: everything that follows hangs off that account.

2. Microsoft 365. Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, SharePoint and OneDrive. Your files sit in one central place and colleagues work in the same version at the same time. For the workplace, Microsoft 365 Business Premium is the licence that makes the whole thing work: it contains the Office apps, and also the security and the device management. If you would rather outsource setting it up and keeping it right, read on at Microsoft 365 management.

3. A managed device or a managed workplace. This is where you make a choice: we manage your employee's own laptop with Microsoft Intune, or your employee works on the Online Workspace in our data centre. Both are a modern workplace. Further down you can read what they cost and what they suit.

4. Security that runs along. Microsoft Defender, disk encryption with BitLocker, access rules and automatic updates. This sits in the workplace itself and not in a separate product alongside it. So there is no separate security invoice.

5. Working together. Teams for meetings, SharePoint for documents, shared calendars. Everyone works in the same version of a file, even with three people in it at once.

Two versions, and what they cost

We deliver the modern workplace in two versions. They use the same identity, the same security and the same support. The difference is where Windows runs.

Version 1: the Online Workspace

Your complete Windows desktop runs on our own servers in Eindhoven and Den Bosch. You open it with Microsoft's Windows App, on a laptop, a Mac, a tablet or in the browser. We install your line of business software centrally, so Exact, AFAS, Twinfield, Exquise, Oase Dental, CClaw or ISAH runs the same way for everyone. No VPN is needed: the connection runs securely through the Microsoft management layer.

Technically we build the Online Workspace on AVD. AVD stands for Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft's workplace technology. We run that technology on our own hardware, with a backup in the second data centre.

The price is €38 per user per month, including management, security, a daily backup and unlimited support. Microsoft 365 Business Premium comes on top at €19.56, €57.56 all-in per user per month together. Already have Business Premium, then you only pay the €38. Cancellable monthly.

This is the route most companies choose, and the one we recommend if you work with line of business software or want your files demonstrably in the Netherlands. Everything is on Online Workspace.

Version 2: the managed laptop

Your employees work on their own laptop or pc, and we manage it remotely with Microsoft Intune: updates, security policy, software and Defender. A new laptop comes out of the box, the employee logs in and everything is ready. That works on macOS too.

The price is €10 per device per month for the Basic package and €19.95 for Medium, which adds a daily backup of the workstation and the rollout of custom software. The Extended package with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint costs €29.95 per device per month. Microsoft 365 Business Premium is required here as well and is invoiced separately. The full explanation is on device management.

This version suits people who work mainly in Microsoft 365 and need to keep working offline, for example in the field or while travelling.

The two side by side

You can also combine them, and many companies do: the office on the Online Workspace because that is where the line of business software runs, the field staff on a managed laptop. It all sits in one environment and on one invoice. The comparison item by item is on modern workplace.

Where your data sits

With a modern workplace your data sits in two places, and it is worth knowing which is where.

Your identity and your licences live in Microsoft 365, within Microsoft's European data boundary. That is already the case as soon as you use Microsoft 365, whoever supplies your workplace.

With the Online Workspace, your desktop, your files and your applications run on our servers in Eindhoven and Den Bosch. Microsoft directs the logging in and the security, the content stays with us, in a separate isolated environment per company. If you choose the managed laptop, your files sit in Microsoft 365 itself, in OneDrive and SharePoint, within that EU data boundary.

Virtual Computing is ISO 27001 certified and in line with NEN 7510. If you have to show an auditor where your data sits and who can reach it, the first version is the shortest answer.

How to get started with a modern workplace

You do not have to change everything at once. In practice it goes in four steps.

1. We look at your Microsoft 365. Which licences you have, how security is configured and who has access to what. That is the foundation the rest rests on, and it often turns up a few licences you no longer use.

2. We choose the version per group. Not per company, but per group of employees. The office with line of business software on the Online Workspace, people who work mainly in Microsoft 365 on a managed laptop.

3. We set it up and migrate. We take care of the migration and schedule it outside working hours. Your employees log in the next morning and their workplace is ready, with their files and their settings.

4. We keep it right. Updates, Defender, access rules, backup and the helpdesk. That ongoing part is called workplace management and with the Online Workspace it is included in the €38.

Want to know what it comes to for your number of employees? Call 085 013 4500 or request a quote. You will have a price for your situation within one working day.