Transavia Studios

The odd one out

Roland Drewel, who was in charge of social media at the time, and his colleague Rob Abspoel founded Transavia Studios. Roland, now a Creative Strategist, says they secretly work at the most beautiful spot at Schiphol. Studios is located in Hangar 5, parallel to the East Runway, where you have a view of the entire airport and can watch private jets take off and land.

How did Studios end up working with Root3?“We started out fairly small, of course, and grew relatively quickly,”says Roland. “And content creation generates an enormous amount of data; with videos, we’re often talking about terabytes. On the one hand, this presented a challenge in properly archiving all that data, so we were looking for a server solution. On the other hand, as creatives, we’re the only department in the company that works with Apple, which means we have different devices and different IT needs. In that respect, we’re a bit of an odd one out.”

A bull’s-eye!

Roland explains that they approached the discussion with their IT colleagues transparently, clearly outlining their challenges and ambitions. The discussions also included their current (non-Apple) vendor and several external parties, including Root3. It quickly became clear that Root3 was the best solution for their situation—truly“right on target,”according to Roland.“From the very first minute, they were proactive and transparent about what was—and perhaps wasn’t—possible. Their quality, pricing, and communication—I would 100% recommend Root3 to others!”

Since 2022, Studios has benefited from Root3’s comprehensive support through Apple Managed Services.“Based on Root3’s advice, we now have a server that allows us to properly archive all those terabytes. Root3 handles the full management and maintenance of that Studios server. In addition, they also manage our Apple devices and ensure we’re compliant with the rest of the company’s security requirements. Everything is managed through Apple Business Manager, and if we have any support questions, we can always reach out. Finally, we have regular meetings and dedicated support days, either online or here on-site.”

Root3: Approachable

If Roland had to sum up Root3’s communication style, the word “accessible” is the first thing that comes to mind.“They’re informal in a professional way—something I really appreciate and that fits well with Transavia. For us, the whole IT side of things is, of course, a bit of a mystery, but they make it understandable and resolve any issues we run into. That’s definitely the biggest ‘win.’ No question is too outlandish, even if it’s one that might go just a little beyond what they’re actually responsible for. They’ll always do their best to advise you and are truly a great sparring partner.”

Another major advantage for Transavia Studios is that the creative team can now simply focus on being creative. Roland explains:“When we started as a startup within the company, we ended up handling a lot of IT matters. These are peripheral issues that you’d really rather not have to worry about, so you can focus on adding value—and that’s happening now thanks to Root3.”

The Future of Studios: Adding Even More Value

Studios is highly ambitious and entrepreneurial, and Roland remains curious about other areas for in-house content production or creation.“I also hope that, through tools or templates, we can support the organization even better, allowing colleagues in the office to handle certain tasks on their own. Then, as the Studios team, we can focus primarily on the things where we can add value—such as larger campaigns, more complex issues, and projects that require customization.”

Finally, Roland notes that he thinks it’s great that Root3 has helped them become a bit more professional as a team.“Thanks in part to Root3, we’ve also continued to grow, and I see that we’ll keep growing together in that sense in the future. I think that’s truly one of the best things there is—learning from each other and getting better as a result.”