Liquit Partner Talks is where partners share experiences, and bottom-line possibilities about Liquit through their future-proof application management solution.
In this first edition, we have as our guest: Michael van Kleeff from our Dutch partner IT-Value.
ICT has always been Michael’s interest. As a child he was already inspired by his father and his choice of study was therefore easily determined. After his studies, he continuously worked in the industry at companies such as Bestseller and Unit4. Michael has been working at IT-Value as a Senior Cloud Consultant since 2018. 
First introduction to Liquit
The first introduction to Liquit in 2019 was a demo by Liquit’s Nico Zieck and a colleague. He was a bit sceptical at first, but very curious about the possibilities. Liquit turned out to offer many diverse solutions. “I still often use this tactic with potential new customers, first raising the question ‘What should I do with this?’ The goal is to first make them feel comfortable with the solution, and then show them what Liquit can really do, and that is really a lot,” says Michael. In his own words, he started to push the boundaries of what Liquit do now and its possibilities for the future. This allowed him to provide a lot of valuable feedback to the developers, which in turn allowed them to improve the products. “With Liquit, we entered a whole new era where possibilities quickly become realities!” he continued.
Michael & Liquit Partner Advisory Council
Last year, Liquit started a Liquit Partner Advisory Council, a selective group of partners who get to see the roadmap and share experiences and suggestions with the Liquit team. According to Michael, he is a proud member of this group because he sees how Liquit uses partner input well to improve the product: “I always tell customers that Liquit is a Netherlands-based company with open lines of communication with their partners.” All partners are always welcome to provide input via the Feedback Portal. (NOTE: Also customers are welcome to provide input via the Feedback Portal)
Michael’s 5 tips
When we talk to Michael about his experiences with the latest version Liquit Workspace 4.0, he has 5 tips that may be completely unknown to others.
External webcam
Michael explains why he uses an external “face recognition” webcam when working from home and preferably with his laptop closed.
“Windows 10 and 11 currently have a feature built in that they don’t trust the camera when the laptop is closed. I think that is annoying, I don’t want to have to open my laptop first, be able to unlock the webcam and then close the laptop again, so I wanted to get that solved. I invested a morning in finding a solution and it turned out that the registry key can be converted so it trusts your external webcam with your laptop closed., but this registry key is continuously reset. For this I use Liquit as an agent on my computer and it puts that registry key back how I want it with just a refresh, and I really like that that can be done using Liquit.”
Universal Agent
Michael uses several types and brands of laptops but chooses to work from a Windows laptop. He also has a MacBook to test various things since he’s always interested in new technologies. With the new Universal Agent that is part of Liquit Workspace 4.0, applications can be managed in both Windows and macOS, so now he can continue testing on his MacBook. “That does add a lot of value for me,” explained Michael.
Microsoft Store Connector
In Liquit Workspace 4.0, the Microsoft Store Connector (preview) has also been released. Apps that were previously not readily downloadable because there is only an AppX version of them can simply be updated and deployed automatically with the Microsoft Store Connector. Previously, Michael did have a way to run certain AppX installations, but now with the Store Connector, they can also be updated automatically. “That’s a great feature, especially now when everything is antivirus and things like that, you just want to stay updated with your applications, so that’s definitely a good one,” continued Michael.
Setup Store
Requesting a new application for the Setup Store previously had to be done through a link on the website, now it can be reported in the tool itself. “You don’t have to sign up anymore because you’re in your own portal, so you report the URL or whatever you want to report and it’s just that simple,” said Michael “I hope people can find it easier and even more input will be sent in.”
Variables
Liquit has been working with variables since day 1. This means that you can change something in 1 place, should it be necessary, and it applies to all packages. Liquit has extended this line of thinking to Condition Sets, which were also introduced in Liquit Workspace 4.0. A condition is nothing more than a set of requirements. “If you have to fill that in by hand for every package, you’re busy all the time,so it’s easier to do that via a variable,” explains Michael. “You then make everything more dynamic, more efficient and it’s also less prone to error. That’s also really particularly valuable for IT teams.”
Would you like to share something about your experience with Liquit? Let us know via marketing@liquit.com and who knows, we might approach you for one of our next editions!