West of Amsterdam lies the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer, home to nearly 165,000 residents. Approximately 1,600 internal and external employees serve a large region that includes towns like Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep, as well as Schiphol Airport. The municipality uses both FlexApp and ProfileUnity, layered on top of Windows 365 Cloud PCs. But how and why did they come to these decisions, and what are the benefits?
We spoke with Wim Hofman, IT Solution Architect for Workplace & Security at the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer.
“In late 2023, the municipality launched a three-part project called Datacenters in the Cloud in collaboration with Microsoft. This project involved migrating two physical datacenters to Microsoft Azure, updating the network infrastructure, and creating new designs for the Citrix environment. For the latter, I was tasked with identifying the best Microsoft alternative for migrating remote workers currently using Citrix. The study focused on choosing between Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) and Windows 365, with key considerations being user experience, administrative burden, and associated costs.”
“In AVD, multiple users work on the same server — much like Citrix. When heavy applications are launched, this can impact other users. With Windows 365, each user gets a ‘personal’ virtual computer, which greatly enhances the user experience. The virtual computer can also be configured in a way that information no longer can be shared locally on the laptop or PC. Those were critical factors for the municipality. Conversely, AVD seemed more cost-effective at first glance, but after thorough analysis, we found that managing the virtual server infrastructure for AVD required additional staff, leading to similar overall costs. After an extensive Proof of Concept (PoC), where Microsoft provided full support for testing various CPUs and RAM configurations, we ultimately chose Windows 365 Cloud PCs for their personal virtual computers and simplified management.”
Even before deciding on Windows 365, the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer had been using Liquidware FlexApp to deliver around 25 packaged applications to their Citrix environment. Wim explains: “To replace the deprecated App-V and to offer applications flexibly across multiple platforms, we had already opted for FlexApp. Now that we’re transitioning from Citrix to the Windows 365 platform, FlexApp once again proves its flexibility, as we can continue using the previously created software packages.”
Within the Citrix environment, the municipality used Ivanti Workspace Control. With the product reaching its end-of-life, they began searching for a replacement solution. Wim shares: “Since we already had FlexApp, we started testing Liquidware ProfileUnity, and it immediately performed well. Our policy is to minimize the use of third-party management tools. FlexApp and ProfileUnity share the same management console, preventing the need for an additional platform.”
“Some organizations try to configure everything with Intune, but this often doesn’t work perfectly. We want changes to be available to users immediately, without waiting for Microsoft Intune’s variable synchronization times, which can take an hour or more. Additionally, our municipality has diverse use cases that require supplementary solutions. Replacing Ivanti was never up for debate.”
“For example, we use RDW SaaS applications that require unique SSL certificates installed on the machine to function. There are four different applications with four SSL certificates, but all the certificates have identical names, making it impossible to install them side by side. With ProfileUnity, we can load the correct SSL certificate when the RDW application launches. Solutions like these require an additional layer beyond Intune. Furthermore, ProfileUnity allows us to easily map drives, create shortcuts to SaaS services, or adjust registry settings. All of this can be managed from a central portal, with changes reaching users in just a few clicks. This approach offers greater flexibility, faster deployment, and ensures users know what to expect. Consistency, uniformity, and control are vital for the user experience.”
The Municipality of Haarlemmermeer is migrating employees to Windows 365 gradually, department by department. Wim elaborates: “This phased approach allows us to test the licensing models for Windows 365 Cloud PCs in real-world scenarios. We use a mix of Enterprise licenses for regular users and Frontline licenses for part-time workers or external staff who log in less frequently. Reports within Intune provide insights into login patterns on specific days and times.”
“For Liquidware’s FlexApp and ProfileUnity solutions, our system administrators received training, giving them a strong knowledge base and equipping them to handle unique use cases. The local support from Liquidware has been fantastic!”
Wim concludes: “To answer why the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer chose Windows 365 combined with FlexApp and ProfileUnity, several factors stand out. The user experience, security and management costs tipped the scales in favor of Windows 365 Cloud PCs over AVD. The main reasons for selecting FlexApp and ProfileUnity were the centralized management of user environments and applications, the ease of use — packaging applications is literally ‘next, next, finish’ — and the integration with Azure Blob Storage. All our software packages and ProfileUnity configurations are stored in Blob Storage, which ensures smooth functionality. The combination of Windows 365 Cloud PCs and Liquidware provides scalability and simplicity in management, making our IT environment future-proof!
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“For organisations evaluating application management solutions, I highly recommend FlexApp. I was genuinely surprised by how easy it was, given the App-V packaging challenges we’ve faced in the past. Recently, we needed to update a package. We just upgraded it, published it in FlexApp and within 20 minutes it was ‘next-next-finished’ Historically, it would have cost much more time, care and consideration. FlexApp is just easy, intuitive, and it works.”
Robert Harwood
Infrastructure specialist, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead“We started looking at alternatives to App-V and tested several solutions extensively. In the end, we kept running into the same two objections: either the product was very complex, or the compatibility was insufficient. We have two fairly large packaging teams, so we didn’t want a solution that required specialized knowledge. Ease of use was therefore a prerequisite. With FlexApp, we found the simplicity and high level of compatibility that we were looking for.”
Senior Desktop Engineer
Global Insurance Company"We did look at app layering from other vendors, but there we saw several limitations. For example, we couldn’t offer applications on-demand, or they all had to be in the Citrix image. That way you get ‘image rot’ and applications start to conflict with each other. With FlexApp, applications are actually delivered as a separate layer and not ‘baked into’ somewhere. Moreover, App-V is going to disappear, and we were looking for a platform-independent alternative.”
Martijn Konings
Senior System and NetworkAdministrator, Waterschap Brabantse Delta©2025 Liquidware Labs, Inc. All rights reserved
