Today, we’re shining the spotlight on a new Community Hero:
Gerwin was nominated by none other than our previous Community Hero,
Gerwin has been working at HZ University of Applied Sciences in Vlissingen since 2002, where he is part of the Information Management & IT Services department. As is often the case in education, roles are broad and varied—and that suits him perfectly.
From licences to support (and everything in between)
Within HZ, Gerwin moves seamlessly between hardware and software procurement (license management), second-line IT support, application management, and his role as a TOPdesk administrator. It’s precisely this combination that allows him to see TOPdesk from multiple perspectives and use it in a smart, effective way.
TOPdesk is used daily to handle incidents, requests, and changes. But for Gerwin, it’s more than a tool it’s a way to improve collaboration. As an administrator, he makes sure colleagues and departments are properly supported. Not just through forms and processes, but above all through personal contact.
You can see this clearly in his onboarding approach. Using change forms, conversations, and a monthly TOPdesk walk-in session, he helps departments get started. At the moment, teams like Marketing & Communication and part-time e‑learning are actively onboarding, while new workflows continue to be set up behind the scenes.
Smart processes that actually work
Gerwin is constantly looking for ways to improve processes. Recent examples include workflows for requesting business travel (including approvals) and requests for renovations or changes to physical spaces often involving multiple departments.
The result? Clear for the requester, manageable for IT, and transparent for the organization.
What really defines his approach is the question he keeps asking himself: How can this be done smarter, more consistently, and with as little manual work as possible?
Learning from each other in the Community
The TOPdesk Community plays an important role in this. Gerwin uses it to gather ideas, validate choices, and share his own experiences. That doesn’t just lead to inspiration it leads to real, tangible improvements in practice.
One great example is a discussion about inactive operator accounts. By periodically reviewing these and discussing them with the right colleagues, Gerwin was able to optimize licences. The outcome: better insight into usage and direct cost savings, a win for both IT and the organization.
Discussions around AI functionality in TOPdesk also catch his interest, especially because they touch on policy, future vision, and the choices organizations need to make today. Exchanging experiences with other TOPdesk users leads to valuable insights that go far beyond his own context.
Practical tips with real impact
In the Community, Gerwin enjoys sharing solutions that are simple, yet highly effective. One example is his focus on keeping knowledge items up to date. A small but powerful action: automatically sending an email to the operator group one year after a knowledge item is created or updated. This helps keep knowledge current up-to-date, something that becomes even more important when working with AI. After all, the quality of your output starts with the quality of your knowledge.
Another strong example is a fully automated action sequence for offboarding employees. When a person is archived, TOPdesk automatically checks whether any assets are still linked, involves the manager, creates an overview of all assets, and immediately generates a change request for the responsible party.
The result: no more “floating” laptops, better registration, less manual work, and a process that actually triggers action.
Gerwin is a Community Hero because he shows how powerful it is to share knowledge, answer questions, and turn Community ideas into concrete improvements. Engaged, knowledgeable, and always willing to help others: exactly why Christiaan nominated him.
Thank you, Gerwin, for your valuable contribution to the TOPdesk Community 💙