How cultural alignment accelerates innovation at IFS Ultimo 

A stalled crane, a failed machine, or an unsafe building: in sectors such as logistics, industry, and healthcare, the impact of poor asset management is immediately noticeable. Asset Management Software helps prevent these issues. IFS Ultimo, recognized by Gartner as a global market leader in Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), has been working with NetRom Software for more than ten years on platform development and support. The key to this long-term success is a strong cultural alignment that enables a constructive and productive collaboration.

IFS Ultimo was founded in the Netherlands in 1988 as a small, independent software developer and has since grown into an international organization with approximately 2,500 customers worldwide, including London Gatwick Airport, BASF, Vion Food Group, and Hutchison Ports ECT Rotterdam. In 2022, the company was acquired by IFS, a Swedish software provider with more than 5,500 employees across over 50 countries. IFS Ultimo is ISO 9001 certified and holds an ISAE 3402 Type II certification.

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software is continuously evolving. Erik Huisman explained: “Users are increasingly adopting augmented reality (AR) applications and artificial intelligence. Data streams play a critical role in this, and IFS Ultimo’s solutions must support these technologies. Data analysis is also being used more frequently to identify patterns and anomalies, enabling capabilities such as predictive maintenance.”

At the same time, existing customers using on-premises versions of the software must transition to the cloud—a technically complex migration process that places additional pressure on available development capacity.

Attracting sufficient developers in the Netherlands proved to be a significant challenge. Huisman added: “In 2014, we evaluated various nearshore and offshore options. We were primarily looking for a partner that could scale flexibly and that offered a strong cultural fit.”

The collaboration began with a pilot project focused on a standalone module. Erik Huisman explained: “That created sufficient confidence to continue and expand the team.” IFS Ultimo eventually scaled up to ten developers and testers from NetRom.

The initial model—where Dutch Scrum teams guided the NetRom developers—proved to be insufficiently flexible in practice. Huisman noted: “We therefore transitioned to mixed Scrum teams, with a shared stand-up and backlog.” This shift marked a turning point in both speed and quality.

As the collaboration expanded, so did the scope of work, including cloud migrations, API integrations, and second-line support for international customers. Huisman added: “Migrations involve a combination of automated and manual processes. For some customers, the software has been heavily customized, which requires careful assessment during a cloud migration. We have entrusted the technical aspects of this to NetRom.”

Today, a total of twenty NetRom professionals are working for IFS Ultimo.

What distinguishes this collaboration is the strong cultural alignment. Erik Huisman explained: “The NetRom developers are very capable of indicating when something is or is not a good idea—this level of directness is something we are also accustomed to in the Netherlands. The difference in working methods between Dutch and Romanian developers is minimal.”

The long-term collaboration ensures continuity in both knowledge and ways of working. Huisman added: “Of course, people occasionally move on, but NetRom manages knowledge retention and knowledge sharing internally very effectively.”

Huisman also emphasized the importance of continuously investing in personal relationships: “A partnership needs to be shaped together. Involving each other in strategy, contributing to operations, sharing successes, and celebrating them together—all of this is essential.”

With twenty professionals from NetRom, IFS Ultimo has the development capacity to both support its existing customers effectively and continue driving innovation.