DATAGROUP Netherlands: “We don’t just want to grow; above all, we want to become more relevant”
Nancy Roos-Beukers (photo) is as enthusiastic as she is clear. Following DATAGROUP’s acquisition of Valid Managed Services in June, it’s time to look ahead. The Dutch organization wants to build on its existing customer and market knowledge and combine it with DATAGROUP’s scale, technology, and specialized expertise. Not simply to grow larger, but above all to become more relevant to customers.
Nancy Roos-Beukers joined Valid Managed Services as CCO in March 2025. Just over a year later, Valid’s managed services division was acquired by the German company DATAGROUP. For Roos-Beukers, this acquisition primarily means new opportunities are emerging. “My goal is to connect the market, customers, portfolio, and organization. Throughout my career, I’ve often worked in organizations where there was a real opportunity to build or change something. That’s the case now as well. We have a solid foundation in the Netherlands and can now add much more knowledge, scale, and service offerings to it.”
For customers, this change should be most evident in what DATAGROUP Netherlands can do for them. “We want to preserve what works well: our proximity, personal contact, and our knowledge of the Dutch market and our customers. To that, we’re adding the strength of a much larger European IT organization. This gives us the ability to support customers more comprehensively and with greater specialization than before.”
Dutch Identity
According to Roos-Beukers, the fact that DATAGROUP is originally German does not mean that the Dutch organization must become a carbon copy of the German one. “Our customers must continue to feel like they’re dealing with a Dutch organization. We know their business, their people, and their environment. That local accountability and proximity are important. At the same time, we don’t have to build everything from scratch here in the Netherlands if specialized knowledge or proven services are already available within DATAGROUP.”
According to her, that is precisely where the strength of the combination lies. “The client retains a Dutch point of contact and a team that knows their organization. Behind that stands a much larger organization with specialized knowledge, technology, and delivery capacity. That truly gives us more possibilities.”
Building on Existing Strengths
DATAGROUP Netherlands isn’t starting from scratch. The organization is building on markets where it has accumulated knowledge and experience, including the manufacturing industry, professional services, and the real estate market.
Within the manufacturing industry, Roos-Beukers observes that IT and operational technology are converging more and more closely. “At manufacturing companies, IT is having an increasingly direct impact on the primary process. Availability, cybersecurity, and business continuity are no longer just about the office environment, but also about production and operational technology. That’s precisely where we can add more value through the cloud, infrastructure, security, and managed services.”
IT requirements are also changing within professional services, including financial institutions, accounting firms, and law firms. “IT has long since ceased to be merely a support function in these sectors. Security, business continuity, compliance, and being able to demonstrate that systems are under control are becoming increasingly important. This is also changing what clients expect from their IT service provider.”
In addition, the organization has a clear position within the real estate market, including housing cooperatives, real estate investors, and other organizations that manage real estate portfolios. “Precisely because we already know these markets, we can further deepen our services. We don’t have to first learn how such a sector works. We can combine our existing knowledge with new expertise and services from DATAGROUP.”
The Public Sector as a Growth Market
One market where Roos-Beukers sees significant opportunities in the coming years is the public sector. DATAGROUP Netherlands already has experience in this area, but within the broader DATAGROUP organization, there is a wealth of additional knowledge regarding services for governments and public institutions. “That makes this market particularly interesting for us. Government organizations have high standards for security, continuity, compliance, and data sovereignty. It’s not just about being technically secure. Organizations must also demonstrably comply with laws, regulations, and policy frameworks, maintain control over their data, and know who has access to it.”
Within DATAGROUP, there is already extensive experience in Germany with complex IT services for public organizations. In addition, the group offers cloud and security solutions for environments with high compliance and sovereignty requirements. “We don’t have to build that expertise from scratch in the Netherlands. We can leverage what already exists within DATAGROUP and combine it with our knowledge of the Dutch market and our local services.”
According to Roos-Beukers, this presents a significant opportunity for DATAGROUP Netherlands. “For government organizations, trust, control, continuity, compliance, and data sovereignty are essential. With our Dutch presence and DATAGROUP’s experience, technology, and scale, we can further expand our position in this market in the coming years.”
The Discussion Is Shifting
Data sovereignty, according to Roos-Beukers, is not limited to the government sector. Other organizations are also taking a more critical look at their dependence on technology and cloud providers. “Organizations want to better understand where their data is stored, who has access to it, and how much control they still retain. This is becoming increasingly important, especially when it comes to business-critical data and in regulated sectors.”
She notes that this does not mean organizations should turn their backs on the major public cloud platforms. “The hyperscalers offer tremendous innovative power and remain an important part of modern IT. But not every workload automatically has to end up in the same environment. For some applications, the public cloud makes perfect sense, while for others, control, compliance, continuity, or sovereignty may carry more weight.” As a result, the discussion is shifting. “The question is less and less: ‘Should we move to the cloud or not?’ The question is becoming: ‘Which cloud best suits which application, data, and risks?’”
Responsibility for MSPs
Developments such as NIS2 and DORA are also contributing to IT becoming an increasingly prominent governance issue. “Executives are becoming much more directly responsible for digital resilience. As a result, the conversation with an IT service provider will also change. It’s not just SLAs and technology that matter, but also business continuity, risks, compliance, and the question of whether you are demonstrably in control.”
According to Roos-Beukers, this places an important responsibility on managed service providers. “A customer must be able to trust that the service not only functions well technically, but is also managed and demonstrably organized. That requires mature processes, transparency, and standardization.”
Modular Service Model
Within DATAGROUP, that standardization is embodied, among other things, in CORBOX, the group’s modular service model. “I find CORBOX interesting because it means we don’t have to reinvent the wheel for every customer. We have standardized and proven services that we can combine based on what a client actually needs.”
According to her, the cloud offering is a good example of this. Within DATAGROUP, various cloud models can be deployed side by side: public cloud, enterprise cloud, private cloud, and sovereign cloud. These environments can be part of a single hybrid or multi-cloud strategy, which can also utilize cloud infrastructure from data centers in Europe.
“That gives customers freedom of choice. For some workloads, a hyperscaler may be the best solution; for other applications, an organization might want more control or a sovereign solution. Our added value lies in the fact that we spare the customer from having to manage the complexity of all those different environments themselves.”
DATAGROUP can also handle governance, security, and management across the various environments. “So, for me, it’s not about a single cloud model that would be the solution for everyone. It’s about making conscious choices and then turning them into a single, manageable whole.” Standardization plays an important role here as well. “Standardization doesn’t mean you stop listening to the customer. It means you start with a strong standard and only deviate from it where it actually adds value.”
Strategic Issues
DATAGROUP has ambitious goals in Europe. Still, Roos-Beukers does not want to measure the development of DATAGROUP Netherlands solely by revenue or size. “Growing larger is not a goal in and of itself. I find it much more interesting to become more relevant to our customers, so that they involve us earlier in strategic issues and so that we don’t just manage infrastructure, but actually contribute to continuity, security, compliance, and development.”
To achieve this, the Dutch organization itself must also continue to professionalize. “We’re in the midst of a transition. We’re reviewing our portfolio, our processes, and the way we organize our services. Not everything has to be ready tomorrow, but the direction must be clear.”
In three to five years, Roos-Beukers wants DATAGROUP Netherlands to have a clearer presence in the Dutch market. “I’d like to see us known as a strong Dutch managed service provider that combines the personal relationships and market knowledge of a local organization with the expertise, technology, and clout of a major European IT service provider.”
A New Chapter
The transition to DATAGROUP will become increasingly visible in the coming months. On October 12, 2026, the new Dutch DATAGROUP website will go live. Starting January 1, 2027, the organization will officially operate under the name DATAGROUP Netherlands. For Roos-Beukers, this marks more than just a name change. “It’s a logical moment to define more clearly what we want to stand for and what position we want to occupy in the Dutch market. We have a strong foundation and are gaining a wealth of knowledge, technology, and opportunities. Now it’s up to us to turn that into something truly distinctive for our customers.”