Time flies when you’re having fun! I can’t believe it’s already been 21 years since I joined Avanade (or rather, Accenture back then). My hair might be a little thinner than when I first started but I’m as proud as ever to work for such a forward-thinking organization, together with so many great colleagues. I’m grateful to a lot of people – too many to mention here! – for making this such a great ride so far.

And life works in mysterious ways: just a few hundred meters from where I started my professional journey at Accenture, we have recently opened a fantastic new and fit-for-the-future office at EDGE Olympic in Amsterdam. Far from only being “another place to work”, the building is a state-of-the-art place from where we will serve our clients and build our exciting future. Not only does the office bring the latest research and technical innovations in health and wellbeing, and is designed to have a minimal energy consumption, but it also accommodates our growing fleet of electric and hybrid vehicles. Truly a shift in gears! And there’s enough space to park your (electric) bike as well 😉.

Our new office also both supports and exemplifies our vision on the future of work. At Avanade Netherlands, we want all our employees to feel comfortable and engaged at work. That’s why we’ve designed the office space as a platform to collaborate and work smartly, as part of our hybrid working model. Flexibility is at the centre of this approach: we’re happy for all our colleagues to work fully from home, fully from the office or from their clients, or to come and go as they please. Personally, after over two years of on-and-off restrictions, I know I’m very much enjoying seeing and meeting colleagues in person again.

And talking of Avanade people, I’m #AvanadeProud to share that we are growing at a very strong pace here in the Netherlands. Over the past 9 months, we’ve hired 150+ new Avanadis in The Netherlands. All our new, talented colleagues put us in a stronger position to serve our clients, seize the opportunities for growth and make genuine human impact. Together with our clients we are achieving a phenomenal growth of our business and partnerships. There's a huge opportunity and momentum in the marketplace around the Microsoft platform, and I can’t wait to realize this potential with and for our clients!

Of all our new hires, a shout out to Annelies van Doorn Tuinman, our new Sustainability Lead and Madelene Klaasen Bos, our new Sales Lead for The Netherlands! I’m really looking forward to working (more) closely with both these highly talented individuals, who have so much to offer. With them in their new leadership positions, I’m confident that we are better positioned than ever to meet the evolving needs of our clients and help responsibly accelerate digital transformation and innovation.

What better way to end this blog than with our new brand vision “Advance the world through the power of people and Microsoft”, which perfectly illustrates and summarizes this blog. With the right vision, the right people, and the right office, I can’t wait to see what the future brings!