How Pro Persona transformed workplace IT

Workplace IT built for healthcare

Pro Persona is a specialist provider of mental health and psychiatric care in the Netherlands.

Its services operate around the clock, making access to reliable information essential. Their healthcare professionals must be able to access, update, and transfer client information securely and quickly. A device failure, delayed replacement, or a short battery life directly impacts employees’ ability to perform their work effectively.

For Gidi Bullens, ICT Manager at Pro Persona, the requirement was clear: workplace IT simply had to perform in all circumstances

Choosing hardware based on how employees work

The project did not begin with a preferred laptop brand or model. Instead, Circular IT group and Pro Persona developed the requirements around how employees would use the devices.

Important considerations included portability, battery life, performance, Microsoft Teams compatibility and ease of management.

This process led Pro Persona to select Microsoft Surface devices powered by ARM-based Qualcomm technology. The devices offered strong battery performance, straightforward AI integration and competitive pricing compared with equivalent Intel-based hardware.

For mobile healthcare professionals, battery life was particularly important. Outreach workers may travel between patients and cannot always rely on having access to a power socket. The right device therefore supports both productivity and continuity of care.

Bringing the Surface hardware, Microsoft licences and Azure environment together also gave Pro Persona a more consistent and manageable technology environment.

More than 4,000 devices delivered

Circular IT group has supported the rollout of more than 4,000 devices across Pro Persona.

Instead of sending large quantities of hardware to the IT department, devices can be delivered directly to employees at home or at their working location. Circular IT group has the capacity to deliver up to 500 devices per day, but the rollout pace is adjusted to match what the customer can realistically manage.

The ambition is for employees anywhere in the Netherlands to receive a device or replacement within one to two working days.

Pro Persona is also working towards a webshop-style experience in which new employees can select approved equipment, such as a laptop, mouse and headset, before their first day. Their workplace can then arrive ready for use, creating a smoother onboarding experience.

Reducing the workload for the internal IT team

One of the most important outcomes has been the change in the role of Pro Persona’s IT department.

Previously, the team handled much of the physical process itself, from moving and unpacking equipment to preparing devices for employees. Those activities are now managed through the partnership with Circular IT group.

This allows Pro Persona’s IT specialists to focus less on hardware logistics and more on managing services, supporting users and improving the organisation’s technology environment.

The result is a calmer and more predictable process, with fewer physical tasks and less pressure on internal resources.

Creating social value with retired IT

The partnership also created an unexpected opportunity to generate social value. Pro Persona provides activities through their Zin! Dagbesteding programme for people with learning disabilities and complex needs who have distance from the labour market

The purpose of Zin! is to provide opportunities for people to improve their wellbeing and confidence in a supportive community where talents, interests and independence are nurtured. There are twenty different daytime departments on offer at Zin!. Therefore, activity leads are always looking for meaningful long-term projects that participants can get stuck into.

At the same time, Circular IT group needed support with dismantling approximately 200,000 electronic shelf labels, a repetitive circular task.

The result?

We connected these needs. Participants at Zin! dismantle the shelf labels as part of their DIY activities, and Pro Persona receives a small payment for each processed label. Circular IT group also supports the programme by funding practical items and activities that directly benefit the people participating in the day programmes.

Although this initiative was not part of the original workplace contract, it demonstrates how a strong partnership can create value beyond IT. Especially when two organisations with deep-rooted social values come together.

Without placing additional pressure on a mental healthcare budget, we were able to combine circular processing, meaningful participation and financial support for the wider Pro Persona community.

From supplier to long-term partnership

What began as a response to delayed deliveries developed into a broader partnership.

Circular IT group now supports Pro Persona not only with hardware logistics, but also with preparation, workplace design, circular processing and value recovery from surplus equipment.

For Pro Persona, the partnership demonstrates that circular IT does not need to mean compromising on cost, quality or operational reliability. By considering the complete lifecycle of each device, the organisation can reduce pressure on its IT team, improve the employee experience and create unexpected environmental and social impact.

Discover Circular Workplace

Circular Workplace helps organisations manage the complete lifecycle of their employee devices, from selection and deployment to repair, replacement, collection and responsible reuse.

By bringing workplace logistics together under one partner, organisations can reduce internal workload, create a more consistent employee experience and recover greater value from their IT equipment.