ASE Cloud Services Chatbot Interface
Sovereign workplace and AI for municipalities and government
Your residents' data, your documents and your AI use within the EU, under European law, demonstrably compliant with BIO2, the GDPR and the AI Act.
From €9.18 per month · Four ISO certifications · WCAG 2.2 AA · Member of Common Ground
Start the free AI Readiness Assessment →Book a 30-minute conversationWhat municipalities are up against right now
ASE Cloud Services provides Dutch municipalities and other public bodies with a sovereign workplace as an alternative to Microsoft 365, an accessible AI chatbot for residents’ questions and an ISO/IEC 42001 GAP Assessment for demonstrable compliance with the AI Act. Everything runs in a data centre within the European Union, under European law and with no US parent company in the chain, at a Dutch company with a Dutch point of contact; support in Dutch and English. The first obligations of the AI Act have applied since 2 August 2026, and from 2 December 2026 generative AI output must be labelled. For most municipalities the question is not whether they have to comply, but how they can prove it to the council, the CISO and the regulator.
Three situations we hear most often in conversations with public bodies. If you recognise one of them, this page was written for you.
Situation 1
Data that quietly falls under US law
Most municipalities keep their documents, email and calendars with a US provider. That puts them under the US CLOUD Act, even when the data centre is in Europe. For BIO2, the Dutch government information security baseline, and the supply chain responsibility under NIS2, in the Netherlands the Cyberbeveiligingswet (the NIS2 implementation act), you must be able to show where your data is and who can access it.
Situation 2
AI that staff already use, without a register or a policy
Staff use generative AI for letters, summaries and policy documents. Since 2 August 2026 the AI Act has required AI literacy (Article 4), and from 2 December 2026 it requires AI-generated content to be labelled (Article 50). Without a central AI register and risk classification, none of that can be demonstrated.
Situation 3
Residents’ questions left waiting outside office hours
Questions about appointments, passports, extracts and objections come in seven days a week. A chatbot may handle them, but only if it is accessible (WCAG 2.2 AA, mandatory under the Dutch Digital Accessibility Decree), works in your residents’ language and never makes up an answer.
What ASE Cloud Services does for municipalities
Four services that together form one sovereign foundation. You can start with one; the others fit alongside it without a new supplier.
ASE Sovereign Workplace
Email, calendar, documents, chat and video meetings in one environment, built on open standards, hosted within the EU and managed by ASE. The base environment costs €9.18 per month, and beyond that you only pay for the shared storage your team uses. For comparison: Microsoft 365 Business Standard costs €12.13 per user per month.
IRIS AI Chatbot for residents’ questions
Answers questions based on your own web content and documents, 24 hours a day, in Dutch by default and, if you wish, in several languages it recognises on its own. Complies with WCAG 2.2 AA, tells the visitor at the first interaction that they are talking to AI, refers to phone, email or the contact form when in doubt, and never makes up answers. Every month you receive a report with the most frequently asked questions and the number of contacts handled.
ISO/IEC 42001 GAP Assessment
Tests your AI use against the standard for AI management systems, through interviews and document review. The result: a report with priorities that you can show to your council, your CISO and your regulator.
AI Consulting Services and AI Adoption Programme
From an AI register and risk classification to AI literacy for staff and guidance on moving away from Microsoft 365.
Why a municipality chooses ASE
No promises about percentages. Instead, six things you can check for yourself.
European law, demonstrably
Your environment sits in a data centre within the EU and falls under European law and the GDPR. By default we work with European partners without a US parent company, keeping the risk of access under the US CLOUD Act as low as possible. We set that down in a data processing agreement. Your data is never used to train AI models.
Four ISO certifications
ASE Cloud Services is certified to ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27701 and ISO/IEC 42001. We use the same standards as the yardstick in the assessment and the GAP Assessment.
Member of Common Ground
We are a member of Common Ground and apply its principles ourselves: open standards, data separated from applications, no lock-in. What we recommend to municipalities, we do too.
Accessible and multilingual
The IRIS AI Chatbot complies with WCAG 2.2 AA, works in Dutch by default and recognises several languages if you wish.
Dutch company, public pricing
Management and support in Dutch and English, a public price per component in the configurator, cancel monthly and export in open formats.
Procurement below the threshold
Thanks to the public price and the monthly notice period, a pilot or an environment for a single department usually falls below the threshold for a single-source or restricted private procedure, so you can start without a European tender. For larger projects we supply a data processing agreement, SLA, ISO certificates and an accessibility statement.
How a project with a municipality works
1. Free AI Readiness Assessment
In 5 to 10 minutes, a score on six domains, with sector context for municipalities, central government, provinces and water authorities.
2. A 30-minute conversation
We walk through your score and tell you honestly whether and where ASE fits.
3. GAP Assessment or pilot
A formal assessment against ISO/IEC 42001, or a pilot with the workplace or the chatbot for one department or one topic.
4. Roll-out with guidance
Migration from Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, AI literacy for staff, a data processing agreement and an SLA with 99.9% server availability.
Legal frameworks we cover for you
| Framework | What it requires | What ASE provides |
|---|---|---|
| GDPR | Data processing agreement, data within the EU, no transfer to the US | EU hosting, data processing agreement, ISO/IEC 27701 |
| AI Act (since 2 August 2026) | AI literacy, transparency, labelling from 2 December 2026, risk classification | GAP Assessment, AI Adoption Programme, chatbot with an AI notice at the first interaction |
| BIO2 | Baseline security for Dutch public bodies, including supplier management | ISO/IEC 27001, MFA, TLS, logging, SLA |
| NIS2 / Cyberbeveiligingswet | Supply chain responsibility, reporting obligation | Visibility of sub-processors, incident process, SLA agreements |
| Dutch Digital Accessibility Decree | WCAG 2.2 AA for digital channels | IRIS AI Chatbot WCAG 2.2 AA |
| Common Ground | Open standards, data separated from applications | Workplace on open standards, export in open formats |
Want to know where your municipality stands?
Take the free Sovereign AI Readiness Assessment. In 5 to 10 minutes you see your score on six domains, with sector context for municipalities and a management report as a PDF. Free and without an account.
Want to know where your municipality stands first? Take the free assessment or book a 30-minute conversation. We will tell you honestly whether ASE fits your needs, and if not, who does.
Book a 30-minute conversation →Frequently asked questions from municipalities
How does ASE limit the risk of the US CLOUD Act?
Your environment sits in a data centre within the European Union, falls under European law and the GDPR, and is managed by ASE Cloud Services B.V., a Dutch company. There is no US parent company or supplier with access to your data, which keeps the risk of access under the CLOUD Act as low as possible. We set that down in a data processing agreement.
Does the ASE Sovereign Workplace comply with BIO2?
The workplace provides the technical foundation that BIO2, the Dutch government information security baseline, requires: multi-factor authentication, encrypted connections, logging, supplier management through an SLA and an ISO/IEC 27001-certified management organisation. BIO2 is a standard for the whole municipality, not for a single product; the assessment or the GAP Assessment maps out which measures you still lack.
What does the workplace cost for a municipality with 200 staff?
In the configurator, an environment for 200 staff with 10 TB of shared storage costs €371.36 per month excl. VAT (€449.35 incl. VAT), which works out at €1.86 per member of staff excl. VAT. That is the base environment of €9.18 plus the shared storage; components such as Collabora Office (€1.83 per user) can be added or removed month by month. You see the amount directly in the configurator, without a quotation process.
Is the IRIS AI Chatbot accessible under WCAG 2.2 AA?
Yes. The chatbot complies with WCAG 2.2 AA and tells the visitor at the first interaction that they are talking to AI, as Article 50 of the AI Act requires. If the chatbot is not sure of an answer, it refers to phone, email or the contact form instead of guessing.
Does the chatbot also work in languages other than Dutch?
By default the IRIS AI Chatbot works in Dutch. If you want to serve residents in other languages, the chatbot recognises the language of the question and answers in that language. You decide which languages to enable during set-up.
Can we start with one department, and what about procurement?
Yes. A pilot with the workplace for one team, or the chatbot for one topic such as appointments or extracts, is the usual first step. Thanks to the public price and the monthly notice period, such a pilot usually falls below the procurement threshold, so you can start without a European tender.
What has our municipality been required to do under the AI Act since 2 August 2026?
Since 2 August 2026, the obligation to ensure AI literacy for staff who work with AI (Article 4) and the transparency obligations have applied. From 2 December 2026, AI-generated content must be labelled in a machine-readable way (Article 50). For high-risk applications, such as AI in decisions about residents, the obligations follow in 2027 and 2028. The GAP Assessment maps out which of your applications fall into which category.
How do we migrate from Microsoft 365 without work grinding to a halt?
Files, contacts and calendars are imported in the background through the official Nextcloud connectors; staff keep working in the old environment until the switch. For email and permissions, our AI Consulting Services guide you step by step. File formats remain compatible with Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
About the authors
Alain van Zwol
Founder of ASE Cloud Services
Alain van Zwol is the founder of ASE Cloud Services and works daily on European, GDPR-compliant cloud and AI solutions. Through ASE, he guides organisations in their transition to a sovereign workplace free from dependence on US tech giants. You can read more about Alain and the team on the about-us.
Sebastiaan Hoogeveen
Co-founder of ASE Cloud Services
Sebastiaan Hoogeveen is co-founder of ASE Cloud Services and combines his background as a mechanical engineer with advanced expertise in AI engineering. His experience with C++ during his studies provides a strong technical foundation for his work as an AI engineer. Calm, precise, and composed, he likes to keep an overview. As a team player and connector, he translates complex technology into practical AI solutions. Learn more about Sebastiaan and the team on the About Us page.