Digital Strategy & Execution

Government and Public Sector

Unlocking Real Impact in Government Digital Strategies

Coherence Is Key:

Digital Transformation in the Public Sector: From Fragmentation to Coherence

Digital transformation in the public sector is no longer a choice, it’s a necessity. Yet many organizations struggle to turn ambition into action. Legacy systems, fragmented responsibilities, and shifting regulations often stand in the way of meaningful progress. True transformation requires more than new technology: it demands coherence—between policy and execution, between IT and strategy, between innovation and real-world impact. At Highberg, we help public organizations build that coherence, with a focus on value, agility, and long-term societal benefit.

Wilbert Enserink

Anne van Esch

Martin Ruiter

Netherlands

Coherence Is Key: Unlocking Real Impact in Government Digital Strategies

Digital

Part 13: No hidden interfaces

Design principles for the computer scientist:

Design principles for the computer scientist (Part 13)

A principle for the information scientist is "decoupling points for complexity reduction and flexibility". But a decoupling point is also a coupling in the system as a whole! All interfaces must remain visible, if you come across one you must recognize it. This applies to the same extent for the organizational scientist; organizations also have interfaces and dependencies and these must be visible.

Rutger Gooszen

Design principles for the computer scientist: No hidden interfaces

Technology and Telecommunications

Royal FloraHolland takes control of its data to make smarter decisions

Case study Royal FloraHolland

Royal FloraHolland, the world’s largest flower auction cooperative, needed a more effective way to track the performance of its software teams. These teams work within an Agile framework, where multiple teams collaborate and release software updates in synchronized cycles, known as Agile Release Trains (ARTs). While this approach allows for faster delivery, it also creates complexity in tracking team performance across various areas. Performance data was scattered across various systems, making it difficult for management to get a clear, unified view of how the teams were performing. As a result, leadership struggled to effectively track progress, identify potential bottlenecks, and optimize team performance to support the business’s fast-paced needs.

Case study: Royal FloraHolland takes control of its data to make smarter decisions

Organizational

The Key to Cloud Cost Management

FinOps

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Organizations are struggling with rising cloud costs. FinOps* enables them to gain insight into costs and continuously optimize them, leading to more control and better decisions around cloud usage.

Whitepaper: FinOps - The Key to Cloud Cost Management

The Psychology of Change in Digital Transformation #2

Change in Digital Transformation

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In the <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/the-psychology-of-change-in-digital-transformation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first part</a>, various forms of resistance in digital transformation were analysed, ranging from passive inertia to strong reactance. This second part focuses on interventions: specific actions organizations can implement to effectively address resistance. The world of behavioral economics is explored, along with interventions organizations can use to address inertia, skepticism, and reactance. Practical examples demonstrate how these interventions can be effectively applied for successful change management in digital transformation.

Kyra Koper

Making digital transformation transparent through simulation modelling

Digital transformation simulation modelling

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Predicting the concrete impact of a digital transformation on an organization is a complex challenge. The starting point is often a plan that guides initiatives to achieve organizational goals. But how does this transformation affect our operational efficiency? What bottlenecks arise during implementation? And perhaps the most important question: ‘What does it deliver for the organization?’ While these questions can be answered in abstract terms (e.g. ‘more efficient processes’), it is more difficult to substantiate such claims with specific results. We often see in practice that simulation models are an effective but rarely chosen solution for this. These models make it possible to test and analyze in advance, enabling organizations to be better prepared for the implementation of a digital transformation.

Daan Smits

Luna van Vilsteren

Choose a Storage Structure Based on Requirements

Construction principles 12

Construction principles for the IT architect (12): Choose a Storage Structure Based on Requirements

In this blog series, I delve into timeless principles of information science that ensure better "information constructions." This 12th blog in the series continues with the third computer science principle (see my <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/construction-principles-for-the-information-professional">introductory blog</a> for the distinction). Why and when should you choose a relational structure (RDB and SQL), and when is linked data (RDF and SPARQL) a better storage option? Most people think of data in terms of tables to organize it, but this also imposes certain constraints when you want to later modify the structure. What trade-offs exist between the possible solutions?

How to choose the right Cloud vendor?

How to choose the right cloud vendor?

In recent years, the cloud has grown from a trend to a strategic necessity for many organizations. The cloud brings many benefits such as flexibility, scalability and better collaboration capabilities. A crucial step in implementing cloud is choosing a cloud vendor. It may seem like an easy decision, but several factors make this a complex process. How do you choose a cloud vendor? What do you need to consider? Here, the considerations an organization needs to make when selecting a cloud vendor are examined in detail.

Loran van den Dungen

Mathijs Dubbe

How to choose the right cloud vendor

Whitepaper: Cloudtransformation

Cloudtransformation

Cloudtransformatie ENG

In recent years, cloud transformation has evolved from an emerging trend to a fundamental building block for modern IT strategies. Many organizations struggle with maintaining control during and after transformation to the cloud. How do you maintain this control on the cloud during and after a transformation so that the intended benefits are actually achieved? And what do you need to take into account? Tools for a successful cloud transformation are described here.

Whitepaper: Cloud transformation

How do I know I’m safe enough?

A Safe IT Environment

How do I know I’m safe enough? Anyone concerned with making their IT environment secure will at some point ask themselves, am I on the right track? Am I doing enough about information security? Is my most important information (crown jewels) secure? What is good enough? 
Implementing a security framework (such as the BIO or ISO27001 and NEN7510, for example), combined with a risk assessment, is often the most commonly followed path. Implementing a framework does not directly answer the questions above. The use of a structured approach will help. Also, in the future, with new threats, this approach can easily be gone through again to efficiently determine where additional measures are needed so that one always knows they are safe enough.

Edward Matray

Leveraging the Enterprise Architecture Lens in the Quest for Business Agility

Whitepaper: Enterprise Architecture Agility

Whitepaper: Leveraging the Enterprise Architecture Lens in the Quest for Business Agility

Today's organizations need a strong vision and a long-term strategy to transform their business operations, ensuring they remain competitive and sustain high performance. In the fast-paced, digitally connected world, it is crucial for organizations to adapt continuously. This quest for adaptability is central to the concept of business agility, which is the ability of a company to effectively sense and respond to fast changing requirements. Achieving this requires a transformation across organizational structure, processes, products and services, and IT systems. Taking the Enterprise Architecture lens for a more holistic approach in your transformation could foster more aligned changes and decisions in the organizational, product/service and Data and IT layer. Many organizations face obstacles due to isolated or partial transformations and therefore, misaligned strategies. In this whitepaper we will examine and describe these challenges and offer an important perspective to address them effectively.

Device-independent development

Construction principles 11

Construction principles for the IT architect (11) Device-independent development

In this series of blogs, I will reflect on the still valid information science construction principles that guarantee better "information structures". This 11th blog in the series continues with the second informatics principle (see my <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/construction-principles-for-the-information-professional">starting blog</a> for the distinction<a href="https://www.vka.nl/publicaties/constructieprincipes-voor-de-informatiekundige/"></a>). Why and when to develop device independently? It's always so nice in the architecture principles at company level or in a policy document "Our employees can work independently of time, place and device". But the impact of the desire to be able to work device-independent on the design of the IT landscape and the software to be developed is not small.

Highberg podcasts

Employer NPS 27

Highberg has various podcasts about Sustainability, Digitalization, Transformation, Europe and the Government. Curious about these topics? Listen to the podcasts via the links down below.

Sustainability

Separating application function from data storage

Construction principles (10)

Construction principles for the IT architect: (10) Separating application function from data storage

In this series of blogs, I dwell on the still valid information science construction principles that guarantee better ‘information building’. This 10th blog in the series continues with the first informatics principle (for the distinction, see my <a href="https://highberg.com/insights/construction-principles-for-the-information-professional" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">starting blog</a>). This one is about the construction of data processing. 
We don't dwell on it but every screen we process information on hides an underlying construct that extracts data from a storage and allows us to access or modify this data or add new data. If the processing function and the data storage are separated, this has great advantages. In fact, this is the information science principle of decoupling but applied in computing.

Construction principles for the information professional: (8)

Construction principles

Construction principles for the information professional: (8) Separating data and metadata in storage and processing

Data is hot. Everyone wants to work data-driven and AI only works on big data. In short, data is the new gold! But what exactly is data? There are different categories of data, and one is specifically about dealing with master data and transactional data. Metadata and the need to distinguish that from the data itself and process it separately is essential. Otherwise, spaghetti is created in the system landscape and searching for specific data becomes the proverbial needle in the haystack.

Construction principles for the information professional: Separating data and metadata in storage and processing

Construction principles for the information scientist: (7)

Construction principles for the information scientist: (7) Single registration of master data

Still-valid information engineering construction principles guarantee better information constructs. They are sometimes, in the pace of advancing technology, a bit forgotten, resulting in shaky or poorly maintainable and extensible information constructs. This time, the focus is on the need for single-entry capture of master data and the challenges this presents with respect to usage. Is copying a problem?

Construction principles for the information scientist: (6)

Construction principles for the information scientist: (6) Disconnect “who you are” from “what you are allowed”

Still-valid information engineering construction principles guarantee better information constructs. They are sometimes, in the pace of advancing technology, a bit forgotten, resulting in shaky or poorly maintainable and extensible information constructs. This time, the focus is on the need to decouple identification/authentication (who you are) and authorization (what you are allowed to do). How many login combinations do you have in use? Probably more than 30. Still every day, people struggle with login names and passwords for all those service providers visited online. In theory, the solution is simple but in practice it is still laborious.

Healthcare and Life Sciences

Financial Services

The Psychology of Change in Digital Transformation

The Psychology of Change

At Highberg Digital, we help our clients with their digital transformation journeys. Digital transformation can be seen as a journey that has an impact on the core of organizations and individuals. Each journey has its challenges and for digital transformation, it is the response of people to change. Some embrace the changes while others feel more comfortable with the well-known.

Digital Strategy & Architecture

Construction principles for the information professional

construction principles

Construction principles for the information professional (9): Apply standard patterns without deviations

Standard patterns exist in both information science and computer science. 
The elegant thing about a standard pattern is that it is a standard. But in practice, there appears to be a reason to deviate a bit each time. The result is a user who no longer understands the user interface or a no longer interoperable concept, lower maintainability of a system and loss of time.

Drones in the Physical Environment

The Revolution of Data Acquisition

The Revolution of Data Acquisition: Drones in the Physical Environment

In a world where technological progress marks nearly every aspect of our daily lives, it's no surprise that the physical environment is exceptionally suited for innovative applications. We're witnessing the rise of smart sensors that monitor environmental quality, smart mobility solutions making city traffic more efficient, and the use of smart dust — minuscule sensors that collect detailed data about their surroundings. Moreover, the development of digital twins, where virtual replicas of physical environments are created for precise analysis and simulation, paves the way for the application of drones in the physical environment.

Irfan Ilahi

A Highberg Case study: Productization in Shell’s Cloud

Case study: Productization in Shell’s Cloud

A Highberg Case Study

Following Shell’s Enterprise Cloud Platform transformation journey from project to product.

Koen Harbers

Simon Atteveld

Effective strategy execution with enterprise architecture

Effective strategy execution

Translating the business strategy into reality is a complex task. The majority of organizations fail to successfully implement their business strategy. What is the cause of this and can enterprise architecture provide a helping hand? Discover five scenarios where you can use enterprise architecture to increase the likelihood of successful strategy execution.

Security policies and frameworks for data pipelines in the public sector

Security policies and frameworks

Data pipelines are essential components of modern governmental operations. They facilitate the flow of information between (governmental) organizations, departments, and systems, ensuring efficient functioning of the government. With increasing digitization and data usage, vulnerabilities in the data pipeline have become a critical focus. Challenges, risks, and strategies for keeping government data pipelines secure are explored in detail here.

Jousuf Mohamed

Highberg's strategy against rising cybersecurity threats in industrial automation

ICS Security: setting new standards

Cybersecurity threats industrial automation (ICS/SCADA)

The world of Industrial Automation (IA) is increasingly facing cybersecurity threats. Not only foreign nuclear power plants have already been hacked, but also the first objects of our vital infrastructure. VKA has therefore developed a multidisciplinary approach to take IA to the desired higher level.

Huub Koninkx

Focus decision-making outside the boundaries of the program organization

Innovation in chains

Innovation in chains: focus decision-making outside the boundaries of the program organization

This past year I had the pleasure of being program manager for an ambitious "bottom up" initiative for exchange and reuse of soil data (chain computerization) of government and network operators. Many parties were involved such as municipalities and provinces but also dozens of (semi)private companies. At the time of writing this post, the program has temporarily stopped: the principals are looking for a way to regain funding and participation. In this blog, I briefly reflect on events and how additional measures can help this program - and other similar programs.

Ruud Boot

IT department, are you still there?

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The world is changing rapidly, and with the advent of technological advancements, many organizations are being driven by digitization.
Within information provision (IT), also known as the IT department, it's no different. Think of the arrival of technologies like GenAI and Data Management. The business departments of an organization want to anticipate these changes.
To facilitate this, IT departments are facing increasingly greater challenges. They are often very busy ensuring the basics of their services are in order, passing audits, and meeting the year's forecasts. Due to this focus, there is often insufficient time to truly respond to all developments.
It's time to pull the handbrake, look around, and collaborate closely with the business.
Because I see more and more in practice that the business is following its own IV path. A path without the IT department.

Jessica Drake Wetsteijn

An integrated architectural approach for robust ICS/SCADA security

Working in architecture

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Last year showed how vulnerable our infrastructure sometimes is as a result of cyber attacks. For example, PETYA caused non-functioning cranes at Maersk's container terminal, and non-functioning sorting machines at TNT. Also recently, some banks have proved inaccessible due to a DDos attack. Until now, mostly technical and related organizational measures have been taken to deal with such cybersecurity threats. However, it is slowly dawning on us that reactive measures will not be sufficient in the future if we want to guarantee the continuity of such infrastructure. So how do we really get our Operational Technology (OT/ICS/SCADA) properly secured?

Stop muddling through and start working under architecture

IT and I(I)OT are converging, now what, evolution or revolution?

IT and OT Fusion: managing change

IT and OT converging, how do we keep a grip on this (r) evolution?

IT and I(I)OT are converging, developments are accelerating, now what, evolution or revolution? 
Actually, there are 3 major developments happening simultaneously in the world of operational technology (OT). First, the number of business and management processes that require both office automation (IT) and OT to be available is growing; with or without interfaces between them. Applications are growing, but information security is not automatically growing with them. This makes a second development even more important, that of growing external threats, with most in the news ransomware, such as previously at Maersk, recently at the Gelderland security region. Last but not least, there is a new player in this domain, dubbed by someone the "IoT virus. It often starts with 'sensors,' but eventually it involves large data streams, which need to be controlled. Lots of potential but immature in terms of security, thus vulnerable. What should enterprise management do with this? Adapt quickly to these new developments, at the risk of making mistakes because of this speed? Opt for evolution or revolution? Our answer is 'both', but according to a controlled change approach, in which IT and OT are aligned, with a stepped Architecture process and appropriate Communication at each stakeholder level.

A Highberg customer story: Better use of Dutch waterways

Better use of Dutch waterways

With the construction of the Second Maasvlakte, container transport is experiencing strong growth. The Netherlands is the European hub for waterborne transport, and our waterways are among the busiest in the world. Transport by water is an excellent alternative to road and rail, but much capacity remains unused. To fully realize the potential of our waterways, improvements are needed.

Koos van der Spek

Retail and Consumer Goods

A Highberg customer story: Bol, Optimal infrastructure for Holland's largest online store

Optimal infra Holland's largest online store

Online sales are growing phenomenally. In the past ten years, sales have more than quadrupled. Still, turnover increases every year with about 8 to 9 per cent (source: Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor). For market leader Bol.com, this growth would not be possible without an optimally functioning ICT infrastructure. Optimal in this case means that the ICT just has to work all the time. An online customer is not very loyal and clicks through to another webshop, especially in the crucial peak season around the holidays. This requires a state-of-the-art infrastructure that anticipates continuous growth.

Pim Schouten

Optimal infrastructure for Holland's largest online store

A Highberg customer story: Police, One identity in the criminal justice chain

One identity in the criminal justice chain

As soon as someone is arrested by the police, their identity must be established. This is important, for example to make sure that the right person is on trial and that it is the same person who is serving any sentence. To prevent mistaken identity and identity fraud, an unambiguous determination of that identity is essential. Not only at the police station, but at all organizations in the criminal justice chain (court, house of detention, prison, etc).

William Swaters

People

A Highberg customer story: Chain computerization in the immigration chain

Computerization in the immigration chain

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Those who enter our country as aliens or are found to be illegal immigrants go through step-by-step processes that may lead to them being granted a residence permit or visa or being deported from the country. This involves a chain of different organizations: the so-called aliens chain. The Direction Regie Vreemdelingenketen, part of the Ministry of Security and Justice, promotes cooperation between all chain partners.

Chain computerization in the immigration chain

A Highberg customer story:  Implementation of new application and digital pass system

 Implementation of digital pass system

For Amsterdam residents with lower incomes, activities like going to a dance class, the library, a birdwatching group, a debate, a theater performance or a museum aren’t always accessible. Based on the idea that everyone should be able to participate, the municipality of Amsterdam created the Stadspas over 25 years ago – a pass that offers all residents of the city the opportunity to enjoy the beauty that the city has to offer. 
"With the Stadspas, Amsterdam residents with a small wallet receive all kinds of financial benefits when undertaking activities or purchasing products in the areas of culture, recreation, exercise and health," says Harro Hoogerwerf, who has been working as head of the Poverty Reduction Department at the City of Amsterdam for the past year. "It's a product we are proud of, because through the Stadspas we are creating more equal opportunities"

Implementation of new application and digital pass system

A Highberg customer story: One learning environment for teacher and student

One learn environment for teacher and student

A typical university consists of a building where, as a student, you sit down behind one of the many computers, attend lectures and talk to lecturers in the corridors. The Open University is an odd duck in this respect, as there is no physical campus. Distance learning is a USP of the Open University (OU), but at the same time a pain point. Because how do you make sure the learning environment meets all the requirements and wishes of teachers and students.

Arjan van Venrooy

One learning environment for teacher and student

RWS, roads and waterways more secure

A Highberg Customer story:

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More and more human hands are giving way to digital processes, increasing the risk of hacks, cybersecurity failures and break-ins. Because governing is looking ahead, it is important to anticipate this now. But how do you tackle that? A good example of this is the Dutch Rijkswaterstaat (RWS), which in 2014 started a large program in which all (moveable) objects – or "works of art," as they are called within RWS – are tested for their security and, where necessary, made more resilient against cybersecurity threats.

A Highberg Customer story: RWS, roads and waterways more secure

A Highberg customer story: Information security in healthcare at Triade

Information security in healthcare

Information security in healthcare at Triade

"Information security is a tricky concept. Many people when they hear this term think of ICT security, but it is much more than that. Healthcare providers do understand that you have to handle client files carefully, for example, but information security is also about protecting information about your own employees, the financial information, the access policy to locations. If you want to improve the information security of a healthcare institution, you have to deal with all processes within an organization: from policy to operational level. That's quite a job, because you have to get all the departments involved to want to cooperate"

Steven Debets

A highberg customer story: ICT modernization at CBR: shorter lead times and lower costs

IT modernization: reduce lead time and costs

ICT modernization at CBR: shorter lead times and lower costs

"The services of CBR's Medical and Punitive Measures Division and its ICT department need to be substantially improved." So judged the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment in 2011. But what specifically needed to be improved? In the case of the Medical and Punitive Measures Division (the division of CBR that investigates driving fitness; medical and claims), this concerned the excessively long turnaround times and high costs of service provision. "It was said: intervention is needed," explains Erik van Zegveld, partner and management consultant at Highberg. "The Driving Ability Division needs to be redesigned and the ICT landscape modernized, as it was very outdated."

Erik van Zegveld

Are you also reserving 15% for the management of Cloud Services?

Management of Cloud Services

are-you-also-reserving-15-for-the-management-of-cloud-services

When outsourcing internal IT to an external service provider, it is already well known that you need to account for 15 per cent (management) costs for the oversight. But does this rule also apply to the management of cloud services, or are there different principles at play?

Are you also reserving 15 per cent for the management of cloud services?

The right level of architecture for projects

Architecture: an ounce more or less?

Applying enterprise architecture as a steering tool can speed up project initiation, reduce project risks, make project complexity manageable and increase the project's chances of success. With this knowledge, one could argue that organizations should always use enterprise architecture as a steering tool for projects. But then again, what do you do when an organization does not have an unlimited supply of architects? And maybe a project cannot get by with an ounce less architecture either? Highberg has developed a model that helps determine the amount of architecture required for a project.

Clarity and precision through visualizations

Visualization in ICT: A new standard

Triptych - 3: Why don't ICT projects create construction drawings in AutoCad?

Last late summer, a Dutch governmental committee released a report titled "towards grip on ICT," commonly referred to as the Elias report because of the chairman. The report was released to address the problem that ICT projects are not in order. The report gives an important recommendation: the establishment of the BIT, Bureau ICT Testing. The advice to create a new control instrument, the BIT, raises many questions. Within the suggested recommendations, Highberg advocates the position and role of an independent Information Provision Architect. In addition to this role, the use of visualizations and models is also an opportunity to force the project to think about issues such as functionality, feasibility, scalability and more in every detail. In ICT projects, why don't we actually use autocad to create a blueprint. 
Highberg's proposal is to introduce a coherent system of three recommendations. The recommendations are based on a triad of expertise, independence and transparency.

Strengthened by expertise and collaboration

Detailed design with expert Team

Triptych - 2: Design a solution in ALL its details!

ADutch governmental committee released a report with the title "towards grip on ICT" and is commonly referred to as “the Elias report”, because of the chairman. The report was released to address the problem that ICT projects are not in order. The report gives an important recommendation of the establishment of the BIT: Bureau ICT Testing. The advice to create a new control instrument, the BIT, raises many questions. Within the suggested recommendations, Highberg advocates the position and role of an independent Information Provision Architect. In addition to this role, the use of a Specialist Team in complex projects is also an opportunity for greater success, an opportunity we should not miss! 
Highberg's proposal is to implement a coherent system of three recommendations. The recommendations are based on a triad of expertise, independence and transparency.

Success through Information Architect

Internal Quality in ICT Projects

Triptych - 1: ICT projects succeed through quality from within!

A Dutch governmental committee released a report titled "towards grip on ICT" and commonly referred to as “the Elias report” because of the chairman. The report was released to address the problem that ICT projects are not in order. The report gives an important recommendation of the establishment of the BIT: Bureau ICT Testing. The advice to create a new control instrument, the BIT, raises many questions. Even more controls, audits and reviews. Does that really contribute to a better running project? Within the principles of the BIT as also formulated from the Dutch government’s response to the Elias report, Highberg finds that one of the possible mechanisms to a better running project is not yet sufficiently highlighted. An improvement of the content is needed, meaning a change in a project from within in the area that matters: the quality of the solution. A better quality project—who would not want that? Here is how this can be envisioned in broad terms. 
Highberg's proposal is to introduce a coherent system of three recommendations. The recommendations are based on a triad of expertise, independence and transparency: Introduction of independent Information Supply Architect, Establishment of a Specialist Team, Visualization ICT project.

Laurianne van der Plas

Project-/Program manager

Capabilities

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