From traditional ITSM to Freshservice: how Meierijstad Council modernised its IT services.

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Kevin van Dinther Strategic I&A Adviser

Due to rising costs and changing requirements, the old IT service tool simply no longer cut it. For a local authority that wants to be at the forefront of innovation, this was not a sustainable situation. It was high time for a future-proof system that would once again provide the IT team with optimal support.

 

Find out how Meierijstad Council switched to Freshservice in 2.5 months and, with Gorilla Services, retained control over the implementation.

Time for a change

“Nine times out of ten, people used the wrong form to submit a request, which meant we spent more time sorting out a report than actually answering the question.”

– Kevin van Dinther, I&A strategic adviser at Meierijstad Council

Gemeente Meierijstad

Gemeente Meierijstad 1

Gorilla Services

Meierijstad Municipality

The municipality of Meierijstad was formed in 2017 through the merger of three smaller municipalities and a social services department. The organisation, which now has around a thousand staff, has since come together as a single entity. Van Dinther has been Strategic Adviser for Information Provision and Automation since 2022 and is responsible for the municipality’s broader IT landscape, with the municipality-wide ITSM solution being one of his key areas of focus.

Manufacturing / Machinery

Comparison of ITSM tools for local authorities

Why choose Freshservice?

Meierijstad Council looked into systems such as Topdesk, Zendesk and ServiceNow, but a demo at Gorilla Services was the deciding factor. Freshservice proved not only to be surprisingly affordable, but also offered exactly what was missing. Unlike the old system, the smart AI integration now ensures a faster and more organised process straight away.

  • Compared with Topdesk, Zendesk and ServiceNow.
  • Surprisingly Affordable & Innovative
  • Simple & Clear

Challenges facing the Municipality of Meierijstad

Outdated system without AI Prices rose year on year, whilst innovations such as AI failed to materialise and the tool simply failed to keep pace with the council’s requirements.
A jungle of forms With over 150 different forms available, staff became confused and reports were consistently categorised incorrectly.
Overburdened service desk Manually correcting all those incorrectly categorised reports took the IT team longer than actually helping the user.
Lack of a central overview Faced with an overwhelming landscape of some 400 applications, the team found it extremely difficult to keep management organised without a centralised platform.

Our proposal

Complete control over the layout Meierijstad Council remained in charge throughout the set-up process, with Gorilla Services acting as a strategic partner precisely when needed.
A crystal-clear overview via Custom Objects No fewer than 400 applications were mapped out and seamlessly linked to smart forms and workflows, thereby immediately eliminating the need for manual research.
A phased, lightning-fast roll-out in 2.5 months From a small implementation team to widespread adoption by a thousand staff members; the new software package proved to be so intuitive that a simple introduction was all the organisation needed.
A smart AI check for every report No more manual triage. Our own AI agent now analyses every incoming report immediately and assigns the correct priority and category in a flash.
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How did we sort this out?

Meierijstad opted for Freshservice and set it up almost entirely on its own.
Gorilla Services acted as a regular sounding board, providing practical advice at just the right moment, such as the Custom Object functionality to provide an overview of 400 applications.

Meierijstad today:

  • Modern Platform: Transitioned from a rigid, outdated IT landscape to a flexible platform.
  • Widespread adoption: A user-friendly system that was immediately embraced by staff.
  • Smart collaboration: Retaining control, with Gorilla Services as a trusted advisor in the background.
  • Immediate support: A dedicated, Dutch-speaking point of contact for quick and practical solutions.

Impact in figures

Kevin van Dinther "AI was completely missing from our previous tool."
SLA
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Staff work in Freshservice
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Applications managed via Freshservice

Results

Freshdesk – New feature update

Rapid implementation

A successful go-live in just 2.5 months for over 1,000 staff, more than 110 police officers and 8 departments.
FW Implementatie

Less noise and fewer phone calls

Thanks to smarter forms and the automatic AI check for priority and category, tickets are routed correctly straight away.
Freshdesk en Freshservice – Chatbot & AI (Freddy) training

Data-driven insights and less noise

As tickets are now consistently tagged, the local authority now has a crystal-clear understanding of where the IT team’s time is actually being spent.
Account manager Gorilla Services 1

Ongoing collaboration

A Dutch-speaking point of contact for support enquiries and regular knowledge-sharing sessions, even long after the system goes live.
Curious how we can implement this for your organisation?