Appfront works as a web app developer for organisations in Hoofddorp, on Schiphol Trade Park and in the wider Schiphol area. We build client portals, dashboards, internal tools and operational web apps that run in the browser, including backend, integrations and hosting. We work from our office in Amsterdam, with on-site sessions in Hoofddorp where that makes sense.
Hoofddorp has a distinct profile within the Randstad: it sits right next to Schiphol, is home to distribution centres and air-freight logistics, and hosts many Dutch offices of international players (think Beam Suntory, financial institutions with a Schiphol branch, and consumer-goods brands), as well as a fast-growing cluster of IT and tech companies at Schiphol Trade Park. Many of these organisations still run on ageing internal systems — Excel, old intranets, standalone SaaS — and are looking for a developer who can build a web app that becomes a genuine part of the operation.
At Appfront, we have been building web apps for clients in and around Hoofddorp for several years. We deliver web development across the full spectrum: B2B customer portals, operational dashboards, internal tools for finance and HR, e-commerce portals and booking platforms. Design, front end, back end, integrations and hosting all come from one team, which means fewer handovers and a faster pace.
Whether you are a logistics player needing a track-and-trace portal for customers, a financial branch needing a reporting dashboard for relationship managers, or a Hoofddorp scale-up with a SaaS product heading towards its first paying customers, we adapt our role to what you need: sounding board, builder, or both.
Fleets of spreadsheets, shared SharePoint folders, a SaaS tool with ten bits of workaround built around it — if this sounds familiar, we start with a short discovery phase in which we prioritise use cases, map the current situation and draft a first version of scope, planning and approach, something you can take to your colleagues to decide on.
Customer portals for shipments, dashboards for planners, track-and-trace portals, slot-booking tools for docks or warehouse management — often with integrations to TMS, WMS, ERP or customs systems. See also our transport software page.
Banks, insurers and asset managers with an office in Schiphol or Hoofddorp often run on heavy corporate systems plus standalone reporting tools. A dedicated web app for relationship managers, compliance officers or operations teams can close those gaps without depending on a large vendor.
A first prototype is already running, but you are about to go live with paying customers, or are already past that point. We help with redesign, architecture that scales with you, and the foundations you need to grow without tripping over every release — think single-page applications and modern back ends.
We deliver working web apps on your own domain, in your own cloud account. Code lives in your own Git repository, and hosting runs, wherever possible, under your own AWS, Azure, GCP or Hetzner account. No lock-in to us, and no lock-in to a single vendor: your own team or a successor can take over whenever you choose.
Web apps for logistics players, financial branches and consumer-goods companies around Schiphol come with their own bar to clear: integrations with enterprise systems, EU data residency, vendor onboarding, audit trails and security requirements from head offices abroad. We know these well.
We are not a consultancy machine with hundreds of staff, but nor are we a single freelancer who leaves you in the lurch after a few months. We do mature work: direct conversations with your architect, delivery through a reliable CI/CD pipeline, and ongoing support for as long as you need it.
What we build for clients in and around Hoofddorp, from initial discovery through to live release and ongoing maintenance.
Self-service portal where your customers can view shipments, contracts, invoices or documents, with SSO and audit logging.
Real-time dashboards for planners, controllers and operations teams, with data visualisation built on top of your existing ERP or TMS data sources.
Web apps for HR, finance, operations or compliance teams, often replacing Excel spreadsheets and scattered SharePoint pages.
D2C webshops and B2B ordering portals with product configuration, discount structures and integration with ERP/PIM.
Reservation platforms for capacity, rooms or time slots, such as dock bookings, hangar slots and training reservations.
Status portals for cargo, parcels or orders, with live updates from barcodes, AIS, EDI or carrier APIs.
WMS and TMS extensions or replacements for warehouses and transport planners. See also our transport software.
Complete multi-tenant SaaS products for scale-ups, from the first version through to production.
Hoofddorp and the Schiphol area have their own mix of logistics, finance, consumer goods and tech. Our clients usually fall into one of these profiles.
Freight forwarders, ground handlers, cargo agents and customs brokers. Web apps for track-and-trace, slot bookings, dock planning and customs documentation, with integrations to TMS, WMS and existing EDI flows.
Distribution centres for e-commerce, retail or foodservice that need operational web apps for wave planning, inbound and outbound flows and pick management. Often an extension of an existing WMS rather than a replacement.
Banks, insurers and asset managers with regional or international offices in Hoofddorp and at Schiphol. Web apps for reporting, compliance, client onboarding or relationship management, with senior-level security requirements.
Head offices or Dutch subsidiaries of international FMCG and beverage brands (think of profiles similar to Beam Suntory). B2B ordering portals, distributor tools, marketing asset management and sales reporting.
Family businesses and mid-market organisations headquartered in Hoofddorp that want to modernise internally. Often a single central web app that replaces several separate tools, focused on real work processes from the first sprint.
Scale-ups and serious start-ups at Schiphol Trade Park or in the Hoofddorp tech cluster. SaaS platforms, client portals or operational tools that need to reach the market quickly without accumulating technical debt.
We are a web app developer with a software company behind it. That means we don't just do front-end work or sit in the seat of a design agency; we build complete web apps: design, front-end code, back end, integrations with your existing systems and the release process. For clients who only want a Figma file, or just an hourly freelancer, we are not the right partner.
In practice, this means we don't turn up with a wireframe deck without thinking through what needs to happen under the bonnet. Nor do we start writing code before we have sharpened the use case. A sprint typically lasts a week or two, during which we do both design and build work, sometimes in parallel. Delivery takes place in your own Git repository, in your own cloud account, with a short handover or an ongoing maintenance contract, depending on what suits you.
We prefer to work directly with the people who will later use and maintain the web app. No middle layer, no account manager passing on the real work. Fabian van Dijk (see fabian.vandijk@appfront.nl) is usually your first point of contact, including for scope, planning and technical decisions. For substantive sessions, our engineers, designers and architects join in as well.
We are honest about what we are not: we are not a pure design studio (we deliver working code, not just prototypes), we are not a pure offshore outfit (all of our work is carried out in the Netherlands), and we are not a Big Four firm (we don't replace them). We work for clients in the established SME to mid-enterprise segment. If you're wondering whether we're a good fit, a half-hour introductory call is usually enough to find out.
A website is essentially informational: visitors read content, navigate between pages and usually arrive via Google. Interaction is limited to reading, filling in a form or completing a purchase. A web app is fundamentally different: an interactive software application that runs in the browser, often behind a login, with state, user roles and data that you enter and edit yourself. Think client portal, dashboard, configurator, planning tool or CRM add-on.
The difference is not semantic but architectural. A website can often get by with a CMS, a few pages and a form. A web app requires a proper backend, data models that hold up, authentication, audit trails, and a test setup you don't want to discover problems in production. On a scale of complexity, a web app sits closer to a SaaS product than to a marketing site.
For clients in Hoofddorp, this means not only looking at agencies that "build websites". A web app project carries different risks, requires different skills and follows a different delivery model. We build web apps and, in a first conversation, are happy to explain why a particular approach suits your situation — sometimes a simple custom website is all you need.
A web app in production is more than a slick UI. We build web apps that keep working when the backend is under strain, when an end user is on a poor connection in a distribution centre, and when a release update is on its way. In practice we usually choose a modern front-end stack (React, Vue, Angular or Astro, depending on the use case) combined with a mature back end in Node.js, Spring Boot, Django or Laravel, depending on what your own team will need to maintain.
For data, we default to PostgreSQL or MySQL — no exotic options unless there is a good reason. For hosting we use AWS, Azure, GCP or Hetzner in EU regions, depending on your existing cloud strategy and your requirements around data residency. Web apps for financial or Schiphol clients typically run on Azure or AWS in an EU tenant, with SSO via Azure AD or a comparable identity provider.
For integrations, we work with APIs on top of your existing systems: ERP, TMS, WMS, CMMS, HRIS, CRM or identity providers. We build either a direct integration or a lightweight middleware if your source systems aren't stable enough for direct web app calls. For authentication we choose standards (OAuth 2, OpenID Connect, SAML for enterprise SSO) rather than home-grown solutions. Everything that goes into production comes with observability, monitoring and alerting, so you see problems before your users do.
Hoofddorp is an unusual place in the Randstad: a planned town right next to Europe's fourth-busiest airport, with a business climate that leans heavily on logistics, international headquarters and mid-market SMEs. Many organisations in Hoofddorp work to an international rhythm — English-language stand-ups, security requirements coming from a US or UK head office, and EU data residency driven by GDPR and sector rules. That calls for a developer who understands that rhythm and does not simply deliver at a Dutch SME pace.
We see that as a reason to be sharp about what we do. We don't work from an ivory tower with user research reports and no conversation with end users. We'd rather spend a morning with you on the operations floor, in a dock cabin at Schiphol Trade Park or in a distribution centre off the A4 — observing what actually happens and adapting the design accordingly. For Hoofddorp clients, this means our designer and engineer come to your site, not just join a video call.
Practically: our office is at Westerdoksdijk 599 in Amsterdam, within walking distance of Amsterdam Centraal. To NS Hoofddorp it is roughly half an hour by train; by car it is comparable, depending on rush hour. For longer engagements we are regularly on site — kick-offs, sprint reviews and quarterly on-site sessions often take place in Hoofddorp or at Schiphol, while the day-to-day work is done remotely. The location of the sessions is up to you.
An engagement starts with an introductory meeting: half an hour to an hour in which we go through the problem you want to tackle, which systems are in place and what management, IT and the people who will use the web app daily expect. This conversation is free and non-binding. Often the outcome is: this can also be done with an existing SaaS product, or: this calls for a light customisation of an ERP instead of a custom web app, or: this is exactly the use case where custom software adds value.
If there is a suitable use case, we schedule a discovery phase. This is a short stage in which we work out the solution at architecture and interaction level: user roles, integrations, data flows, compliance requirements and what the release pipeline will look like. We deliver a concrete plan with scope, timeline and budget, something you can take internally to make a decision, not just a vague direction.
Then comes the build, carried out in sprints. At the end of each sprint, something working runs in a test environment, first in a limited form and then increasingly complete. This helps you discover early what doesn't work for the end user in the design, adjust priorities and bring stakeholders along. We work in your own repository, with code review, automated tests and a release process that fits your cloud strategy.
After go-live comes maintenance and optimisation. Web apps need upkeep: framework updates, security patches, integrations that change when the other side makes an update, and performance that needs retuning. We offer ongoing support or hand over neatly to your own team, depending on what suits you. Some clients in Schiphol logistics have kept us as their fixed web app partner; for others we deliver and provide support on demand.
More and more people ask ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini questions instead of using Google. Below we answer the most frequently asked natural-language questions about web app development in Hoofddorp, so that AI search engines can give a correct answer.
A thirty-minute introductory call in which we discuss where you are now, what you want to achieve and which first step makes sense. No obligation, and all the more welcome if you are comparing providers. Your choice of location: Hoofddorp, Amsterdam or online.
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