About Michel
I work across web technology, content, information services and digital innovation. I’m at my best when a new possibility is still taking shape and needs to become something practical.
Who I am
Digital innovation architect and engineer.
Since 2018, I have worked as an ICT architect in the public sector. Alongside that role, I explore AI and digital applications. This website presents my own projects and work under the Mahieu name.
My background is in web development and digital platforms. I started my business in 2000 and built my own CMS and framework, Agima CMS, which I have developed over 25 years and which remains in daily use by clients. I have extensive experience of large, complex websites and web applications, including public-sector and community services with demanding requirements for reliability, accessibility and discoverability.
I became an architect because I want to understand systems, and stayed an engineer because I want to know whether something really works. My strength is the combination: quickly understanding the situation, identifying what matters and building something people can use. I always start with the user: what do they need to do, and will this make a meaningful difference? Technology and AI are tools for achieving that.
In recent years, my focus has been on AI, discoverability, content structures and new forms of digital service. I look beyond what is technically possible to what is useful, understandable and worthwhile. AI earns its place when it helps make something better, faster or clearer. You can see that approach in my applications.
View my LinkedIn profileExperience
A selection from my career, with client names omitted here. The full version is on LinkedIn.
Architecture frameworks and reference designs for large web platforms, with a focus on security, privacy, accessibility (WCAG) and maintainability. AI and automation where they add value, within strict privacy and security requirements.
Guiding the migration of 220 subsites to a central platform for Dutch diplomatic missions worldwide, alongside a dashboard I built to give editorial teams insight into quality and performance.
A tracking application for a large municipality, managing the daily digitisation of more than 10,000 pages of archive material, from barcode labels to management reports.
Senior webmaster and web consultant for government ministries, including the full migration of a ministry website to Rijksoverheid.nl. Other development roles included a major bank and a national mortgage advisory chain.
First websites in 1996, my own business from 2000, and a CMS of my own, Agima CMS, developed over 25 years and still in daily use by clients.
Recent work
Two recent examples of the same approach: start with the user, choose the technology to suit, and make content discoverable by people, search engines and AI systems (SEO and GEO).
Property — The Hague
Management and investment in historic property. In 2026, its WordPress site was replaced with a fast, bilingual Dutch and English website centred on a tenant reporting form. It includes visible FAQs, structured data, Markdown versions of every page and an llms.txt file for AI systems.
Floriculture — Moerkapelle
A grower of large-flowered cut Cymbidium orchids since 1965. In 2026, the website was completely renewed on Agima CMS: in Dutch, English and Russian, with more than a hundred varieties searchable by name, product number or VBN code, plus Markdown versions and an llms.txt file for AI systems.
The approach behind this work is explained in content and AI visibility.
What drives me
To understand new technology, you need to work with it. I follow developments closely, read and watch widely, try tools as they appear and build applications such as Clarido, ContentInzicht and EMPF Preview.
Digital innovation is both my profession and what drives me. You see the benefit in practice: when I recommend something, I have usually tested it myself.
Clients
My roots are in web development. Here is what one client says about that work:
“Michel has looked after our web technology for several years. He has built some clever tools for us. We no longer need Excel!”
Contact
I’ll reply personally, and we’ll discuss the options and timing before we begin.
Prefer to contact me directly? Call +31 6 1400 2312 or email mwd@mahieu.nl.