How Thuisvester Made Space For What Matters

Thirteen meeting rooms. A hundred and eighty people. And a booking system that had been quietly causing friction for years.

Thuisvester is a social housing organisation based in North Brabant, the Netherlands. Their mission is straightforward: providing affordable housing. Their headquarters is busy, collaborative and meeting-heavy, and for years they relied on Microsoft Outlook's room-booking functionality. It worked, after a fashion. But it also produced a familiar set of problems.

Rooms would be booked days or weeks in advance and then sit empty. Colleagues would arrive for a meeting to find someone else already in the room. A five-minute delay could spark a genuine dispute about who had the right to be there. And behind the scenes, a harder structural problem was quietly blocking work: Thuisvester's system imposed a one-year booking limit. Staff supporting the organisation's directors - who needed to schedule external meetings years ahead - couldn't do their jobs. They kept coming to IT with the same message: the system won't let us book.

We spoke with Thomas van Rijswijk, IT Coordinator at Thuisvester, and his colleague Hein Mol, Service Desk Employee, who led the search for a better room-booking solution and now manage Joan across the organisation. Joining the conversation was Daniël van der Linden, Inside Sales and Category Manager at KommaGo, Joan's partner in the Netherlands.

“Rooms were booked really far into the future, but there was never anyone in them.”

— Thomas van Rijswijk, IT coordinator, Thuisvester

Finding the right fit

When the IT team started looking for a solution, they knew what they needed: something that would integrate cleanly with Microsoft, work alongside the Poly hardware already in the meeting rooms, and actually be usable by people who weren't IT specialists. What they didn't want was a full infrastructure overhaul.

Their search led them to Joan. Rather than committing straight away, Thomas and his colleague Hein tested the experience with an iPad trial. The interface made sense immediately. They researched further, found KommaGo - a Dutch specialist in IT, AV, presentation and meeting technology - and reached out.

What followed was a fast, efficient process: a couple of conversations to align on requirements and configuration, and an order placed. No long sales cycle, no complexity. Daniël van der Linden, KommaGo's inside sales and category management manager, had seen this kind of challenge before and knew exactly what to recommend.

Up and running in a day

Thirteen Joan 6 Pro displays arrived and were installed across all 13 meeting rooms within a single afternoon. The rooms varied - glass walls, semi-glass, solid walls - but the installation process was the same for each. Connect, configure, done.

"I just followed the steps," says Hein. "You connect it to an email address and it works."
The first impression was as much aesthetic as functional. Clean, minimal, e-ink. Something that looked like it belonged in the space rather than being bolted onto it.

Rolling it out to staff was equally low-effort. An internal news post explaining the five-minute check-in rule - confirm you're there, or the room is released, and it was in no time that people had figured it out.

“You connect it to an email address and it works. It just works.”

— Hein Mol, service desk, Thuisvester

The difference it made

The change that landed most with staff was simple: rooms were actually available again.
Phantom bookings dissolved. The five-minute check-in rule quietly cleared out calendar clutter that had been building for years. People who'd previously had to scramble for a room at short notice found one waiting.

“Now, on the day, there is a room available.”

— Thomas van Rijswijk, Thuisvester

A new behaviour emerged too. Colleagues walking past a Joan display in the corridor would glance at it, see a free slot, and book it on the spot - no laptop, no phone, no calendar app. The room was there, the display was there, and it took ten seconds.

For Hein's team in IT, the quiet win was how little ongoing management the system required. Joan slotted into the existing Microsoft environment without friction, and once it was set up, it largely took care of itself.

What KommaGo brought to the project

Daniël van der Linden at KommaGo had been working in meeting room technology for years, and this kind of project - an organisation running a full Microsoft stack, looking for something that works with what they already have rather than replacing it - was familiar territory.

The value he brought wasn't just in supplying the hardware. It was in understanding the constraint. When Thuisvester described their setup, Daniël knew that Joan was the right fit: a solution designed specifically for this use case, that integrates cleanly, and that an IT team can manage without needing specialist support.

KommaGo handled the configuration conversations, worked through the right setup for Thuisvester's specific room mix, and stayed involved after installation. For organisations navigating the choice between expensive enterprise room systems and something more practical, having a local specialist who knows the landscape makes the process significantly smoother.

What's next

With the room booking challenge resolved, Thuisvester is now exploring what else Joan can do for them. Workplace Digital Signage is under investigation - the team has a use case around emergency visibility, knowing which staff with specific roles are in the building at any time. Parking management is on the list too, with a new car park and a hybrid working model creating the need to manage spaces fairly for staff and visitors. Visitor management is also being considered.

The attitude is practical and straightforward: the capability is there, and so is the need.

“We'll keep Joan in mind for every problem we face in the office building. Whenever we think Joan could be suitable, we'll give it a try.”

— Thomas van Rijswijk, Thuisvester

Would they recommend it?

Thomas and Hein didn't hesitate.

“Beautiful software with beautiful devices - and simple to add to what you already have. Especially for organisations facing the same difficulties we had, I would definitely recommend it.”

— Thomas van Rijswijk, Thuisvester

 

“From the IT side, the setup is so easy. You just connect it to an email address. It just works.”

— Hein, service desk, Thuisvester