In a market where insurance products are increasingly commoditized, operational efficiency determines competitive advantage. Alpina Group, one of the largest financial advisory firms in the Netherlands, initiated an ambitious IT transformation: consolidating a complex application landscape following a major merger and modernizing it into a future-ready cloud platform. To realize these technical objectives, Alpina selected NetRom as its nearshore development partner. This collaboration has enabled scalable innovation, more efficient processes, and a solid foundation for continued growth.
Alpina Group employs nearly 2,000 people and operates more than 65 offices across the Netherlands and Belgium. Through its platform, approximately 3,000 internal and external advisors can select from products offered by more than twenty major insurers. The company was formed in 2021 through the merger of Voogd & Voogd and Heilbron.
In the insurance sector, organizations that can deliver an optimal customer experience while operating efficiently gain a competitive advantage. However, this is easier said than done: new market entrants are not burdened by legacy systems, while established companies often struggle with complex IT environments.
Following the merger, ensuring service continuity became the top priority, followed by rationalizing the IT landscape. Jelle Tigchelaar, Software Delivery Lead at Alpina Group, stated: “Maintaining all components within this fragmented landscape has become too costly.” Integration and consolidation quickly became urgent priorities, alongside the migration to Microsoft Azure.
Alpina aimed to transform its legacy Delphi platform into the modern ATLAS platform, fully built on a microservices-based cloud architecture. All core components needed to be exposed through APIs (application programming interfaces, enabling systems to communicate with each other) and partially enhanced with AI-driven functionality. Tigchelaar added: “We are looking for highly skilled developers. Even internationally, the availability of such talent is limited.”
‘‘NetRom selected developers with domain expertise in the financial sector. They quickly became familiar with the context and soon provided constructive feedback, such as: ‘I would approach this differently’.’
JESSE TIGELAAR, SOFTWARE DELIVERY LEAD AT ALPINA
For its innovation initiatives, Alpina explored nearshoring. Jelle Tigchelaar explained: “We primarily looked for a partner with a genuine interest in collaboration. We wanted to scale step by step and work in blended teams. On these points, there was an immediate alignment with NetRom.”
As a pilot, NetRom added one developer to each of three existing teams. A practical challenge was language: domain-specific terminology included many Dutch terms with multiple meanings. Instead of translating everything, the teams introduced a shared glossary. This pragmatic approach proved effective quickly.
The teams were then scaled further, with a second developer added to each team. NetRom’s approach emphasizes that a single developer should not operate in isolation—redundancy and continuous knowledge sharing are essential for maintaining quality and continuity.
Tigchelaar was impressed by the quality of the developers: “NetRom selected developers with domain expertise in the financial sector. They quickly became familiar with the context and soon provided constructive feedback, such as: ‘I would approach this differently.’”
The collaboration delivers more than additional development capacity. Jelle Tigchelaar stated: “NetRom provides us with valuable insights and inspiration. They are not hesitant to share knowledge beyond their role as developers. Experience flows in both directions.”
All advisors now have straightforward access to the product lines of both organizations. Tigchelaar added: “Our IT specialists can focus on innovation, because only by becoming more efficient can we continue to improve the service we provide to our customers.”
Ontdek hoe NetRom samen met Alpina een complex applicatielandschap transformeerde naar een toekomstbestendig cloudplatform
