Nationale Nederlanden is a household name in the Netherlands, with their famous orange ‘N’ logo a staple across city skylines. It is commonly known that NN is a pillar in the international financial services industry at home, with a strong presence across Europe and Japan. They provide retirement services, pensions, insurance, banking and investments to approximately 19 million customers.
But did you know that Nationale Nederlanden began as a Fire Insurance Company in 1845? Along with running the business- their founding members invested in a volunteer fire brigade and in fire prevention programs. Showing that care for their customers is at the core of the company’s value system.
Today, this multigenerational legacy of care lives on. With incredible amounts of personal data, financial assets and crucial payments under their administration, NN needs top of the line software to best serve their customers. That’s why NN has been partnering with BonCode since 2021.
Getting A Good Start
Our partnership with NN began when Johanniek Knibbeler, Senior Project Manager & Change Manager and NN Leadership, decided to partner with OutSystems for their team’s low code project needs. Building these new systems from scratch, he and NN leadership prioritized getting a ‘good start’.
While accruing some amount of technical debt is a largely unavoidable reality when building applications, intentionally managing development standards and practices upfront can make a considerable difference. In an article from Forbes, they cite that the average organization dedicates 23%-42% of their development time to managing technical debt. Asserting that the ‘companies who take the time to address it thoughtfully and carefully will be the ones best able to harness technology to drive revenue and innovation at scale.’ Johanniek and the COE (Center of Excellence) understood the value of addressing technical debt on time.
“It was important to us that we set a professional foundation, which meant training developers in house, building a COE, establishing shared best practices across teams, staying organized and having a deep understanding of the systems. We wanted to create an environment which allowed for any changes or maintenance requirements to be easily resolved without wasted time or confusion. Monitoring the building process from the start with BonCat helped us set a foundation for clean, adaptable code. Which was our goal.”
Getting these systems up and running was of course a years-long process, which required sound lines of communication first between Johanniek and development teams, and then between Johanniek and higher management.
“In the beginning it was difficult, there was a learning curve amongst developers, and delivery deadlines to meet within the business. Having the BonCat dashboard helped us to establish and monitor development standards across teams, measure quality, and productivity. Having metrics which were easy for management to see and understand, helped to build trust. It assured management that the development pace, and long-term health of the portfolio were in good shape, and ultimately worth the investment.”
The Beauty of the Benchmark
Helping create sound lines of communication between developers and management is something we get really excited about at BonCode. So, it was nice to hear that Johanniek also uses the BonCode Benchmark event as another way to communicate.
The Benchmark is an event that BonCode hosts biannually for our monitoring customers free of charge. It provides a safe and collaborative space for teams to share best practices and continuously improve.
“I find a lot of value in bringing my development leads to the Benchmark. It gives us a chance to have a dialog about what we see and work out explanations and plans to resolve any lower scores or metrics. It also helps create buy-in among both developers and management when they get to see how well we are doing in certain areas related to other companies both inside and outside of our market.”
Mentor AI and BonCat Working Together as a Team
When asked if Johanniek and his team use any other tools in combination with BonCat, he mentioned AI Mentor Studio (formerly known as Architecture Dashboard), an OutSystems tool with expert-level assistance, that provides for developers across the most critical areas of the software development lifecycle.
While Mentor AI is an important part of the teams’ day-to-day development, the BonCat dashboard offers a zoomed-out picture of the quality of the project portfolio over time. This view creates a powerful feedback loop for continuous improvement, going beyond immediate problem-solving to address systemic issues and foster a culture of quality. This also provides management with an easy-to-understand report on the overall health of the project portfolio.
“If we are building applications, quality is key for us, quality determines the experience we provide to customers and users. BonCode gives us an independent view with industry-standard benchmarks, and it really helps us to minimize our technical debt for maintenance of our applications. Also, it is a good opportunity to learn from other companies within the benchmark group how to improve the development process “
Closing
At BonCode, our aim is to be an independent vehicle for quality, continuous improvement and adaptation for our client’s software portfolios. We understand that like NN, many of our customers have massive responsibilities- with quality software at the heart of a successful business. NN’s long-lasting legacy keeps customers at the forefront of all they do. We enjoy helping NN to execute that ambition today and in the future.