Online Department

What Online Department does

Online Department is a privately held, Netherlands-based UX design agency founded around 2010, headquartered in Rotterdam with additional offices in Gouda, Breda, Antwerp, and Ghent. It positions as a premium, multi-disciplinary UX consultancy serving enterprise and mid-market clients across the Netherlands and Belgium, with a 14+ year track record recognised by top-3 rankings in the Emerce 100 UX design bureau list (2023 and 2025) and a Silver at the DIA Awards 2026.

Its service portfolio is organised around three pillars — UX Research (qualitative and quantitative user studies, usability testing, customer journey mapping, UX audits), UX Design (interaction design, prototyping, design systems), and UX Training (in-company programs on Design Thinking, UX in Scrum, UX research methods). Methodological IP built on top includes a 5-day Design Sprint, a longer Discovery Sprint for product vision validation, Service Design engagements, the UX Research Bus for on-site research, and a UX-Maturity Assessment framework. Online Department is explicitly platform-agnostic: it does not implement technology itself but operates as a UX layer across WordPress, Umbraco, Drupal, OutSystems, Mendix, and the AI-assisted Lovable prototyping tool, with certified implementation partners (Xuntos for Umbraco, Swiss for Drupal, plus Ordina and Pionect on specific client projects).

The business model is professional-services based. UX experts (researchers, designers, service designers) are hired by clients from 0.2 FTE per week on a monthly scaling basis, with rates indexed annually per the CBS business services index, supplemented by fixed-duration Design Sprint and Discovery Sprint engagements and priced in-company training (e.g., Design Thinking in healthcare at €1,960/day, UX Research training at €1,950). Go-to-market is direct, sales-led, and relationship-driven, anchored by free UX consultation 'spreekuur' office hours, content marketing through a Dutch-language UX blog and case studies, and listings on Sortlist. The customer base spans ~25+ named enterprise and government clients including Port of Rotterdam, ANWB, ANWB Energie, Medipoint, Lely, Save the Children, GMP+, Ksyos, Omnihis, BENU Apotheek, Nitea, Kamera Express, Bureau Veritas, Aon, Diabetes Fonds, Kanker.nl, Gemeente Rotterdam, Gemeente Den Haag, Stedin, Eteck, BeterDichtbij, Nelen & Schuurmans, Infradock, and MKB Brandstof, with a deliberate depth in healthcare, energy transition, government, and B2B software verticals.

Name

Online Department

Legal name

Online Department

Website

https://onlinedepartment.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Online Department is a Netherlands-based UX design consultancy offering UX research, design, training, and Design/Discovery Sprint services to enterprise and mid-market clients across healthcare, energy, government, and B2B software in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

UX Design and Research Services

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Computer Training (61142)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Customer Experience (CX) & Digital Experience (BPAHAEAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Learning Technology & LMS/LXP Implementation (BPACANAH), Digital Learning Content Development (eLearning, Labs, Simulations) (BPAEANAD)

Keywords

• UX design services
• User research consulting
• Design sprint facilitation
• UX training programs
• Digital product design

Headquarters

HQ city

Rotterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. UX consulting and professional services: Primary revenue stream from hiring UX experts (researchers, designers, service designers) at daily or FTE rates. Services include UX audits, usability testing, customer journey mapping, prototyping, and UX strategy. Engagement starts from 0.2 FTE per week with monthly scaling.
2. Design Sprint engagements: Fixed-duration, multi-day Design Sprint engagements priced as professional services. Typically 5-day sprints, sometimes compressed to 3-4 days, delivered by multidisciplinary teams.
3. Discovery Sprint engagements: Multi-day to multi-month discovery sprint engagements that combine research and design methods to validate product visions before development investment.
4. In-company UX training: In-company training and coaching programs on UX methods, including Design Thinking, UX within Scrum and Agile, UX Research, and team formation. Pricing examples: Design Thinking in healthcare at €1,960 per day; UX Research training at €1,950.
5. Webinars and on-demand training: Free and paid on-demand webinars covering UX metrics, applying UX within Scrum and Agile, Design Leadership, Design Systems, Lean innovation. Free webinar on UX metrics; paid webinar series at per-module pricing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Online Department is a Dutch UX design consultancy that helps organizations design, validate, and improve digital products. It delivers UX research (usability testing, customer journey mapping, UX audits), UX design (interfaces, prototyping, design systems), in-company UX training, and structured innovation sprints (Design Sprint and Discovery Sprint). Engagements are delivered by embedded UX experts hired from 0.2 FTE per week, working platform-agnostically across CMS, low-code, and custom software stacks.

Product overview

Online Department is a UX design service agency offering a unified portfolio of user experience research, design, and training services. The core offerings include UX Research (qualitative/quantitative user studies, usability testing, customer journey mapping), UX Design (interface design, prototyping, design systems), and UX Training (incompany programs). Supporting methodologies include Design Sprint (5-day rapid validation), Discovery Sprint (product vision development), and Service Design. Additional specialized offerings include the mobile UX Research Bus for on-location studies and UX Maturity Assessment tools. The company works platform-agnostically with various technology partners (WordPress, Drupal, Umbraco, OutSystems, Mendix, Lovable) for implementation support, but these are external platforms rather than proprietary products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• UX Research Qualitative and quantitative user experience research services including interviews, usability testing, customer journey mapping, UX audits, and accessibility audits to understand end-user needs and behaviors for enterprise and mid-market organizations.
• UX Design Design of digital products, websites, apps, and software applications focusing on user-centered interfaces, interaction patterns, visual design, and prototyping for enterprise clients undertaking digital product development or transformation.
• UX Training In-company training programs and coaching to build UX competencies within client organizations, covering Design Thinking, UX within Scrum and Agile, UX Research methodologies, design leadership, and team formation. Delivered on location or via webinar.
• Design Sprint A 5-day structured innovation sprint based on Design Thinking principles (originating from Google Ventures) used to rapidly validate product ideas through ideation, prototyping, and user testing with real users before major development investment.
• Discovery Sprint A multi-day to multi-month structured process combining research and design methods to develop and validate a forward-looking product vision before technical realization, including baseline measurement, product vision workshop, design, validation, and implementation planning.
• Service Design End-to-end customer experience optimization by mapping customer journeys and internal processes, including Service Blueprint methodology for holistic service optimization across organizations.
• Design System Implementation Implementation of design systems including design tokens, component libraries, and design guidelines for Figma, covering color, typography, dimensions, and effects to ensure consistent and scalable user experiences across digital products.
• UX Research Bus A mobile UX research lab in the form of a bus that travels to client locations to conduct on-site user research including guerrilla research, usability tests, card sorting, and co-creation sessions with experienced UX researchers.
• UX Maturity Assessment Diagnostic framework and survey tool that assesses an organization's level of customer centricity and UX design maturity across three axes: research timing, roles/skills, and leadership involvement. Delivered as a downloadable whitepaper and online assessment.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20% conversion increase and up to 250% revenue increase for Medipoint e-commerce platform
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers25 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• XuntoscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerXuntos is a certified Umbraco Gold Partner and Online Department's preferred implementation partner for Umbraco CMS projects. For content-driven digital environments requiring maximum design freedom and .NET ecosystem compatibility, Online Department provides UX design while Xuntos handles the technical implementation, ensuring design is backed by certified Umbraco expertise.
• SwisscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSwiss is a specialized Drupal partner and Online Department's technical implementation partner for Drupal CMS projects. For enterprise open-source CMS requirements with complex content structures, governance, and compliance needs, Online Department provides UX and IA design while Swiss handles Drupal implementation.
• OrdinaminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerOrdina served as the development partner for the Havenbedrijf Rotterdam website project. Online Department functioned as the connecting link between end users, content editors, and Ordina's development team, providing UX design guidelines to ensure the graphical house style was maintained and efficiently transferred to the development team.
• PionectminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPionect was the development partner responsible for building the Eteck customer portal and app. Online Department provided UX research, interaction design, and prototyping for the app and desktop portal, working as part of the development team alongside Pionect.
• SortlistminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSortlist is a platform connecting agencies with companies seeking design and UX services. Online Department maintains a profile on Sortlist for client referrals and reviews.
• MetrixlabminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMetrixlab conducted an effectiveness study for Havenbedrijf Rotterdam that served as the basis for Online Department's UX redesign project. The quantitative and qualitative data from Metrixlab's research informed the customer journey workshops and redesign approach.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Dept Agency: Amsterdam-headquartered global digital agency with a strong UX, design and engineering practice, frequently appearing alongside Online Department in the Emerce 100 rankings. Closest large-scale Dutch-headquartered peer in the UX/digital product space.
• Fabrique: Amsterdam-based Dutch design and strategy agency working on digital products, brands and services for major Dutch and European clients. Regularly ranked in Emerce 100 for design and UX, competing for similar enterprise and public-sector briefs.
• Mirabeau: Amsterdam-based digital agency (now part of Cognizant) delivering strategy, design and technology for enterprise and government clients. Direct Dutch competitor on enterprise UX, design systems and digital product programs.
• N=5: Amsterdam-headquartered digital agency focused on strategy, design and technology for clients such as NS, PostNL and Randstad. Comparable mid-sized Dutch peer competing on UX-led digital product work.
• Informaat: Dutch digital agency specializing in UX research, design and content for complex enterprise and government environments. Long-standing Dutch UX peer with similar service mix and target verticals.
• Ustwo: Global digital product studio with studios in London, New York and beyond, known for product strategy, UX design and engineering. Comparable mid-sized independent peer with similar design-led, human-centered product approach.
• Clearleft: Brighton-based independent UX research, design and strategy consultancy. Closest European peer in scale and operating model, focused on research-driven UX for enterprise and public sector.
• Bakken & Bæck: Amsterdam and Oslo-based design and technology studio building digital products and services with a research-driven, multidisciplinary model. Comparable independent European peer in scale and methodology.

Broad incumbents

• Fjord (Accenture Song): Global design and innovation consultancy now part of Accenture Song, serving large enterprises across industries. Broad incumbent competing on enterprise UX programs where Online Department also pitches.
• IDEO: Global design and innovation firm with deep history in human-centered design and Design Thinking. Broad incumbent that pioneered many of the Design Sprint and discovery methodologies Online Department deploys.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/onlinedept
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/online-department

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Online Department