Workplace hosting in 2026: what to look for

More and more SMBs are no longer running their workplace on their own hardware, but at a hosting provider in the cloud. No server in the meter cabinet, no VPN hassle, no Friday-night patch windows — just log in and work. Sounds great. And in 2026 that holds, provided you choose the right partner.

Because workplace hosting is a market where the differences between providers are huge. Two companies that both advertise "online workplace from €35" deliver fundamentally different products. One has its customers running on a shared server in Frankfurt with an SLA that means nothing; the other hosts on its own equipment in a Dutch ISO 27001-certified datacenter with daily backups in a second location.

This guide gives you the checklist to tell them apart — before you sign a contract.

What exactly is workplace hosting?

With workplace hosting, your full Windows desktop runs on a server in a datacenter, not on your laptop or pc. Your employees log in via browser, app or remote-desktop client and see all their applications, files and email there. Locally you only need a screen, keyboard and internet connection.

The technical name is usually Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) or Remote Desktop Services (RDS). Microsoft itself delivers Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop as platforms; alongside that there's a whole ecosystem of Dutch and European hosters delivering the same service on their own infrastructure — often cheaper and with more customisation.

For SMBs, workplace hosting is attractive because in one move you eliminate:

• Your own server management (hardware maintenance, updates, backups, replacement investments)
• VPN configurations and remote-work hassle
• Lost or stolen laptops with company data on them (data no longer lives locally)
• Pc replacement cycles (employees work from any device)

The five checks before you choose

Workplace hosting is a service you typically use for 3-5 years before reconsidering. Worth checking thoroughly before deciding.

1. Where is the datacenter?

This is the most important question and most providers are vague about it. The answer must be one of three: Netherlands, EU, or outside the EU. For SMBs with customer or employee data, "outside the EU" is effectively forbidden under GDPR — unless you have very thick additional agreements and a watertight legal basis.

The Netherlands is always safe. Dutch law applies, the Dutch DPA can supervise, and sector requirements (healthcare, finance) are easier to justify.

EU is usually fine too — Germany, France, Ireland are popular. Watch out though: Microsoft Azure region "West Europe" sits in Amsterdam, but Azure region "North Europe" sits in Dublin. Small naming difference, big difference in regulatory regime.

Ask the provider in writing: "in which physical locations do our workplaces run, and in which locations are our backups?" A hoster that can't answer that within one business day either doesn't know themselves or doesn't want to say. Both are red flags.

2. Which certifications?

ISO 27001 is the minimum for information security. Without an ISO 27001-certified datacenter you have no measurable guarantee on access control, physical security or incident handling.

For healthcare organisations NEN 7510 is an additional requirement. For financial institutions PCI-DSS comes on top. For education and government: BIO (Baseline Information Security Government).

Don't ask "are you ISO 27001 certified?" but "can I see the ISO 27001 certificate?". We publish our own certificates and audit reports openly in our Trust Center. A hoster that's vague about this, or keeps an audit report "internal", isn't to be taken seriously.

3. What does the SLA say?

Service Level Agreement promises on marketing pages and the actual SLA in a contract are often two different things. Ask specifically:

• Uptime percentage — 99.9% sounds like a lot but means 8 hours per year down. We guarantee 99.95% (max 4 hours per year unavailable). Above 99.99% claims become unrealistic at SMB price points.
• Time to repair on outages — How quickly are you there when the workplace doesn't work? Who do you call? What's the first-line response time? Second-line? Outside office hours?
• Compensation on non-performance — Many SLAs promise 99.9% but if the hoster doesn't make it the "compensation" is 5% of a monthly bill. No incentive for you to switch, no incentive for the hoster to improve. We have an SLA that puts weight on repeated outages too.

4. How are backups arranged?

Workplace hosting without backups is not workplace hosting but a time bomb. Ask:

• How often is backup taken? (daily is the minimum, ideal is incremental-continuous)
• Where do the backups physically sit? (in a DIFFERENT datacenter from production)
• How long are they retained? (minimum 30 days, for compliance often 7 years)
• How fast can a restore happen? (RTO — Recovery Time Objective)
• How much data can you lose in the worst case? (RPO — Recovery Point Objective)
• Do you regularly test that the restore actually works?

A hoster that only tells you that "daily backups are made" without the other answers probably hasn't thought it through. We perform a test restore on a random customer environment monthly — only then do you know for sure it works when you ever need it.

Also read our article on a solid disaster recovery plan in 5 steps if you want to dive deeper.

5. What's the exit clause?

This seems less important than the other points, until you ever need it. What happens if you want to switch to another party in 3 years?

• Do you get your data out? In what format? How long does the hoster cooperate with a migration?
• Is an exit fee charged? Some hosters charge €5-€20 per workplace for "exporting" data.
• How long before your accounts/backups are actually deleted after you leave?
• What notice period? One month is decent. Three months or more is a red flag.

With us it works like this: one-month notice, data comes along in industry-standard format (VHDX/OVF for virtual machines, MBOX/PST for mail, plain files from OneDrive and SharePoint), no exit fee. Our only incentive to keep you is that you're satisfied — not that it's too expensive to leave.

Common misconceptions

Workplace hosting has picked up a few persistent misconceptions over recent years that cost SMBs money or safety.

"Microsoft 365 = workplace hosting"

Not the same. Microsoft 365 is mail, Office and collaboration. Workplace hosting is a full Windows desktop. Many SMBs need both: Microsoft 365 for mail/Office, a hosted workplace for business software (accounting, CRM, industry-specific). We combine both as standard.

"Microsoft 365 makes backup unnecessary"

The biggest and most dangerous misconception. Microsoft protects against hardware failure in their datacenter. Not against ransomware, not against accidental deletion, not against a disgruntled employee deleting data. For compliance (ISO 27001, NIS2) an independent backup of Microsoft 365 data in a separate datacenter is mandatory.

"Cheaper is good enough"

There are workplace hosters offering services at €15-€20 per workplace per month. Do the math: that's about 50% of pure infrastructure costs for the hoster in 2026. How is that possible? By saving on backups (no second location), security (no MFA by default), support (email-only, ticket system) or legal (Frankfurt or Texas datacenter). Realistic SMB workplace rate in 2026: €35-€60 per workplace per month, all-inclusive.

"Your own server is safer"

Not automatically. Your own server in the meter cabinet is safer than bad cloud, but worse than good cloud. Compare your own server to our Online Workplace on these points: 24/7 monitoring, automatic updates, daily backups in a second location, physical security at tier-3 level, redundant power and cooling, MFA with geo-blocking. In 9 of 10 cases the own server scores worse — not because it can't do better, but because SMBs rarely have the time and knowledge to organise all of this properly. See our article on the TCO of own server vs cloud workplace.

How do you make a first shortlist?

For SMBs, two shortlist strategies work well:

Strategy 1: Local first. Find 2-3 Dutch workplace hosters in your region. In Brabant and surroundings there are a handful of serious players. Request a quote based on your number of workplaces and current business software. Compare the offers explicitly on the five checks above, not just on price.

Strategy 2: Big-tech or niche. Want the largest? Microsoft Windows 365 itself is an option — more expensive, less customisation, but no Dutch hoster needed. Want strong customisation (industry-specific applications, unusual integrations)? Then a smaller Dutch hoster is almost always better than the hyperscalers.

We always do a free 1-hour introduction. We listen to your situation, look at your current IT and give honest answers about what makes sense and what doesn't. No sales pressure, no follow-up-after-2-days.

Call 085-013 4500 or request a quote directly. Useful landing pages as a starting point: Online Workplace, Workplace management for SMBs, Microsoft 365 for SMBs.