TOPdesk user days in the Caribbean

TOPdesk user days on Curaçao. It may sound like an excuse to go and drink cocktails on exotic beaches, but this wasn’t the case. At the moment, more than 20 organisations in the Caribbean use TOPdesk, and that number is growing. To support our customers overseas, we have not only engaged in a partnership with Curaçao-based Next Step Consulting – a partner organisation which carries out implementations on location – but we are also organising user days.


The main aim of these user days is to give our TOPdesk users the opportunity to ask questions about TOPdesk in person, or put forward suggestions to help us further improve our product or services; we on the other hand have time to present the users with the recent developments and future plans of TOPdesk. The first user day on Curaçao was organised in 2005, and last month several TOPdesk representatives paid the island another visit. The user session took place over two days this time: day one dealt with TOPdesk Enterprise, while on day two the focus was on TOPdesk for facilities management.

Thijs Verhoef is responsible for the TOPdesk partnerships in the Caribbean area: 'There are quite a few organisations in the Caribbean that use TOPdesk, and we thinkit  is important to assist them in a personal manner. Organising user days is a good way to have direct contact with customers whom you otherwise only speak to via email or over the telephone. Our function on these days is to be available for questions from users and take the time to speak with our customers. This way you get a better idea of what is going on over there, which allows TOPdesk to respond to that; we had also set up one-on-one sessions with customers who wanted more extensive consultancy. Furthermore, these user days provide a good opportunity for us to present the developments within our organisations to the users in the Caribbean.'

Whereas the first day revolved mainly around speaking with customers, the second day attracted many interested people from outside of our clientele. Erik van de Wiel, TOPdesk account manager, comments: 'The second day we presented TOPdesk for facilities, which attracted many people from organisations that are starting to explore the possibilities concerning facilities management. We noticed that, just as in Europe, the concept of facilities management is gaining popularity. At the moment, there is no supplier for it in the area, but the need for organising their facilities processes is growing. It is not yet standard to use software to manage these processes, so maybe TOPdesk can play a supporting role in this.'