How Nh1816 is modernizing its back office with Novulo and Symbria while strengthening its unique identity

Most insurers looking to replace their legacy back office hear the same advice: if you're replacing the back office, you should replace the rest of your application landscape as well. Nh1816 took a different approach. With Novulo, it didn't have to.

During Composable Futures 2026 (16 June, De Kas, Woerden), Senior Manager IT Jerre Veltman explained how the cooperative insurer is modernizing its back office with Novulo while leaving its existing customer portals and middle office untouched. Only the back office is being replaced, as if it were a single building block within the broader application landscape.

The results were immediate. During testing, Nh1816 successfully renewed 3 million policies in just 6.5 hours while the system remained fully available throughout the entire process.

Nh1816: personal advice with fully digital operations

Nh1816 is a modern cooperative insurer that combines personal advice with fully digital operations. Paper-based workflows and scanning processes have disappeared entirely from its business operations.

Originally founded in North Holland, the company has grown into the largest insurer in the Netherlands that operates exclusively through independent advisors. Around 1,000 advisors across the country collectively manage approximately 3 million policies for around 700,000 policyholders.

Nh1816 believes that this combination of personal service and digital efficiency is one of the key drivers behind its continued growth and consistently high customer and advisor satisfaction.

The search for a new back office

Nh1816 aims to continue growing both its portfolio and market share while keeping its internal organization lean. Improving operational efficiency was therefore one of the main reasons for replacing its back-office platform.

"We defined several criteria that the new back office needed to meet," explains Jerre Veltman, Senior Manager IT at Nh1816. "Business continuity was one of the most important. The platform had to remain stable, even during crisis situations. We wanted to know whether recovery could be performed quickly and whether disaster recovery was straightforward. At the same time, we wanted easier access to our data and modern integrations with other applications and tools available in the market."

During the selection process, Veltman encountered a familiar challenge.

Over the years, Nh1816 had invested heavily in customer portals and a middle office that contains much of the company's unique business logic. Those systems worked well and the organization wanted to preserve them.

"When you replace something that no longer fits, in our case the back office, you really only want to replace that specific part," says Veltman. "Yet almost every vendor tells you that you should replace the middle office as well."

Replacing one component without disrupting the rest

This "replace everything" approach is not a matter of vendor preference. It is the consequence of traditional architectures where systems are tightly coupled. Once one component is replaced, the rest of the landscape often needs to change as well.

Novulo approaches this fundamentally differently.

The platform assembles applications from independent components that together form a single integrated application. Using open standards, that application connects seamlessly to existing systems, including Nh1816's customer portals and middle office.

As a result, a single component, in this case the back office, can be replaced without disrupting the rest of the IT landscape.

Ultimately, Nh1816 evaluated the RFP against seven criteria. Two stood out above the rest: flexibility and authenticity.

The deciding factor was the ability to preserve the existing architecture while continuing to evolve the company's distinctive way of working, rather than adapting its business processes to fit a vendor's standard solution.

3 million policies renewed in 6.5 hours

As part of the proof of concept, Nh1816 tested several real-life use cases.

"We validated multiple scenarios," says Veltman. "For example, our personal injury claims specialists need to work efficiently with files containing up to 2,000 individual items."

Policy renewal was another critical benchmark.

"With our previous back office, the renewal process takes an entire weekend. During the Novulo proof of concept, we loaded all 3 million policies and completed the renewal process in just 6.5 hours. Most importantly, users were able to continue working in the system throughout the entire renewal process."

Symbria: Novulo delivered as a complete SaaS solution

Nh1816 is not implementing Novulo directly. Instead, the platform is delivered through strategic partner IG&H, a deliberate choice by the insurer.

IG&H offers the Novulo platform as a fully managed SaaS solution under the name Symbria, including the industry integrations, security, compliance capabilities, and certifications required by the insurance sector.

"Symbria is Novulo delivered as a SaaS solution, including all market integrations, compliance capabilities, and certifications required for the insurance industry," explains Stephan de Jong, Managing Director at IG&H.

Behind the scenes, Novulo's composable architecture powers the platform. Around that foundation, IG&H provides implementation services, operational management, ongoing product development, and ensures compliance with changing legislation and regulatory requirements.

This SaaS approach directly supports Nh1816's broader strategy. The insurer wants to continue expanding its portfolio and market share while deliberately keeping its internal organization compact.

By consuming Novulo as a managed SaaS platform and outsourcing operational management to IG&H, Nh1816 minimizes pressure on its own IT organization while supporting continued business growth.

Remaining in control

An important requirement for Nh1816 was maintaining control over its own roadmap.

The insurer did not want to become dependent on competitors when making strategic product decisions.

Working closely with IG&H, the development team models Nh1816's business-specific processes as new reusable components. Development takes place iteratively, with two or three key users involved for each business process.

After go-live, Nh1816's own operations team will independently implement future product and process changes.

"What matters most to us is that our customers remain in control," says De Jong.

Three-quarters through the migration

The migration project is now approximately 75% complete.

Implementation is progressing slightly behind the original schedule.

"During the project we discovered that some processes were more complex than we initially expected," says Veltman. "On the other hand, some of the concerns we had beforehand turned out to be unnecessary, so there were positive surprises as well."

Veltman and De Jong expect configuration and testing to be completed by the end of 2026, with production go-live scheduled for January 2027.

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