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How CLEVR and Naviva Created an Essential Digital Companion for Expecting Parents

In the world of maternity care, providing timely and reliable information is critical for both new and expecting parents. Recognizing this need, Naviva Kraamzorg embarked on a digital transformation journey to enhance its client engagement and information accessibility.

The result? The Nieuw Leven App — a Mendix Native Mobile application – available in the App Store and Google Play Store - developed in close collaboration with CLEVR.

The Vision: From Paper to Digital Excellence

For years, Naviva relied on newsletters, printed magazines, and website content to inform expecting parents. However, these methods inherently lacked interactivity and personalization. During the pandemic, face-to-face contact was restricted, further highlighting the need for a digital solution that could facilitate real-time engagement. Combined with an increasing number of digital-savvy parents and a growing demand for accessible information, Naviva saw an opportunity to innovate.

"Nine years ago, we envisioned an App that would serve as a one-stop platform for expecting parents," shares Marieke Kolthof, Marketing and Innovation Manager at Naviva. "However, the market wasn’t ready, and the budget was a challenge. It wasn’t until the pandemic accelerated the shift toward digital communication that we received the green light."

Naviva needed a flexible, scalable, and user-friendly mobile solution that could adapt to evolving client needs while seamlessly integrating with their existing systems. Enter CLEVR, a Mendix Platinum Partner known for its expertise in building powerful low code applications.

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Collaborating for Digital Innovation in Maternity Care

The partnership between Naviva and CLEVR is built on mutual trust and innovation. Andries Smit, Senior Mendix Developer at CLEVR, recalls what set this project apart: "Naviva was fully committed to digital transformation, and the entire organization was supporting it. That level of involvement made a huge difference. They understood that a consumer app needs to be seamless—users won’t give it a second chance if it doesn’t meet their expectations."

Why Build the App with Mendix?

With the decision taken that a Native Mobile App was the best approach to meet their needs. CLEVR recommended building the app using Mendix, leveraging its low code capabilities to ensure rapid development, flexibility, and future scalability. Mendix offered several key advantages, particularly in terms of agility, co-creation, and adaptability:

• Offline usability, allowing parents to access critical information even without an internet connection.
  Push notifications, ensuring timely updates and reminders.
• Scalability and adaptability, enabling seamless integration with Naviva’s CRM system while allowing for future enhancements without extensive redevelopment.
• Agility and rapid iteration, ensuring that changes based on user feedback and evolving requirements can be implemented quickly.
• Co-creation and collaboration, empowering Naviva to be directly involved in the development process, refining features to meet real-world needs.
• App Store & Google Play Store availability, making it easily accessible for all users.
  
  

Overcoming Challenges

Building consumer-facing healthcare applications comes with unique hurdles, from regulatory requirements to seamless user experience. One of the biggest technical challenges in the development process was integrating with Naviva’s patient dossier system, which initially lacked APIs. This required project management to push for necessary developments to enable seamless data exchange. Through close collaboration, the teams navigated this challenge, ensuring a smooth user experience.

CLEVR also placed significant emphasis on user experience (UX). As Andries explains, "For consumer apps, 30% of the budget should be focused on UX and UI. If users don’t find the app intuitive and engaging, they simply won’t use it."

The Impact: Enhancing Maternity Care Quality

Since its launch, the Nieuw Leven App has exceeded expectations, becoming an indispensable tool for expecting parents. Key results include:

• More then 95% of first-time parents installing the app.
• Over 20,000 active clients using the app annually.
• Increased efficiency in client communication and engagement.

The app provides vital information on pregnancy, birth, and postnatal care, along with videos, checklists, and interactive features. By offering easily accessible guidance, the app significantly reduces the need for parents to consult maternity care professionals with common questions, allowing the professionals to focus more on hands-on care. This unburdens the care providers while ensuring parents receive high-quality, timely support. Importantly, it enhances self-reliance among parents by equipping them with trusted information, fostering confidence in newborn care, and improving overall maternity care quality.

"One of the things we appreciated most about working with CLEVR was their ability to take our ideas and make them better," says Amanda Weijenberg, Marketing and Innovation Advisor at Naviva. "They didn’t just build what we asked for—they challenged us, refined our vision, and helped us create something truly impactful."

What’s Next? The Future of the Nieuw Leven App

Looking ahead, Naviva is exploring further enhancements to the app, including:

• Chat functionality, allowing parents to interact with maternity care professionals directly.
• Integration with patient records, further streamlining administrative processes and care planning.
• Personalized notifications, increasing engagement while avoiding information overload.
  
  
  

A Benchmark for Digital Healthcare Innovation

The Nieuw Leven App is more than just a digital resource—it’s a great example of how low-code technology, human-centered design, and strategic collaboration can drive innovation in healthcare. By leveraging Mendix Native Mobile, Naviva and CLEVR have set a new standard for maternity care, proving that digital transformation is not just about technology—it’s about enhancing real-life experiences.

Want to learn how CLEVR can help transform your industry with low code solutions? Let’s Build Tomorrow Together.

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VodafoneZiggo is dedicated to providing seamless connectivity to millions of customers. With a vast network spanning over 450,000 kilometers of cable and more than 450,000 street cabinets, the company’s hundreds of field technicians perform over 700,000 service, installation, and repair visits annually.

To optimize their workflow and ensure they can focus on delivering the best customer experience, VodafoneZiggo collaborated with CLEVR to develop the Field Tool 2.0, a Mendix low code application designed to streamline field service operations.

Maximizing Technician Efficiency, Minimizing Effort

The Field Tool 2.0 simplifies daily tasks for field service technicians, ensuring they have access to all necessary information at their fingertips. Built with a strong emphasis on usability, efficiency, and agility, the application allows technicians to focus on resolving customer issues rather than navigating complex systems.

Key Benefits:

• Technician-first design – Developed in close collaboration with technicians, ensuring seamless adoption and ease of use.
• Faster service resolution – Reduces administrative overhead, allowing technicians to focus on customer interactions.
• Real-time data access – Combines multiple data sources into a single, intuitive interface.
• Secure and scalable – Built with Privacy, Security, and Quality by Design principles.
• Future-ready architecture – Integrated into VodafoneZiggo’s IT roadmap and easy to iterate to accommodate market demands.
  
  

A Platform Built for Collaboration and Growth

Field Tool 2.0 exemplifies how co-creation between business and IT leads to highly effective digital solutions. Technicians actively participated in the design, development, and testing phases, ensuring the application truly meets their needs. This Agile, iterative approach allowed for rapid enhancements and fine-tuning, making the tool an indispensable part of their daily workflow.

With technicians saving an average of 10 minutes per truckroll, VodafoneZiggo has already seen significant efficiency gains. More importantly, happy technicians lead to happy customers, reinforcing VodafoneZiggo’s commitment to exceptional service.

The Power of Mendix Low Code

The development of Field Tool 2.0 highlights why Mendix low code is an efficient choice for building enterprise applications:

• Agility: Rapid development and deployment of new features.
• Easy Iteration: Continuous improvements based on real-time feedback.
• Seamless Integration: Connects effortlessly with existing IT systems and data sources; including legacy systems.

By leveraging Mendix low code, VodafoneZiggo and CLEVR have created a scalable, future-proof platform that empowers technicians, optimizes operations, and enhances customer service.

CLEVR & VodafoneZiggo: A Partnership for Success

This project shows the power of collaboration, turning ideas into real solutions through teamwork and innovation. With CLEVR’s expertise in low code development and process optimization, VodafoneZiggo has transformed its field service operations, ensuring its technicians have the right tools to deliver an outstanding customer experience—anytime, anywhere.

With Field Tool 2.0, VodafoneZiggo is ready for the future—maximizing efficiency, reducing effort, and delivering the best service possible.

Hanab Telecom Infra (Formerly known as VolkerWessels Telecom) is a cornerstone of the Netherlands’ digital society, tasked with designing, building, managing, and maintaining telecommunications infrastructure across the Netherlands. 
Their work ensures millions of people have reliable internet, can study online, use smart devices, and stay connected in today’s digital world.

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At the heart of Hanab Telecom Infra’s operations is the Workflow Infratechniek, a powerful system that coordinates over 60,000 infrastructure projects —from the initial intake of project data to completion and feedback. This application is integral to every stage of all grid projects across the Netherlands, from onboarding and design to planning and delivery.  
 
When a project begins, subcontractors hired by Hanab for a project provide details such as location, timelines, and personnel, which feed directly into Workflow’s system. The application then structures tasks, assigns roles, and checks every step is signed off before users can "advance” to the next phase of a specific project. 
 
The Workflow application integrates with the Netherlands’ Digital Collaboration Platform (DSP), a standardized messaging system maintained by Mijn Aansluiting, to help keep things running smoothly. This platform establishes communication between firms like Hanab, subcontractors, and network operators, so important infrastructure projects like fiber optic installations and underground utility connections can be carried out as efficiently as possible. 
 
However, maintaining and improving such a complex system requires third-party expertise from the digital sphere–which is where CLEVR comes in as a Platinum Partner for Mendix low code. Mendix is a platform that allows applications to be built quickly and flexibly without the need for extensive coding knowledge (hence the term “low code”). CLEVR has over 20 years of experience implementing Mendix solutions across industries, including the manufacturing, energy, utilities, and marine industries, and was tasked with working alongside Hanab to upgrade the Workflow application. 
 
In this collaboration, CLEVR supported Hanab in a crucial upgrade to the DSP, which involved transitioning to more modern REST APIs and implementing advanced security protocols like OAuth 2.0 (which we’ll explain below). These upgrades allow Hanab to maintain the reliable and secure systems the Netherlands depends on.

 
The Challenge

The DSP 2.0 integration posed a set of challenges for Hanab Telecom Infra; at its core was the need to modernize the underlying technology of the Workflow application. Speaking to Hanab’s Citizen Developer, Roeland Drok, CLEVR was an easy choice when it came to creating a partnership; “We tried another supplier for a while and well, there was a difference in collaboration. CLEVR knows what to do; they understand the business, they understand us.”

Modernizing Communication: SOAP to REST APIs 

It’s important to understand that APIs are like digital messengers that allow systems to talk to each other. Modernizing these messengers is like upgrading from a postal service to instant messaging, which is clearly more efficient and easier to manage when it comes to just sending written communications. 

 
One of the critical changes involved transitioning from the outdated SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) to the more modern REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs. While SOAP relies on heavy, XML-based messaging, REST uses the lighter JSON format, making data exchanges faster and more efficient.  
However, this shift was not just about adopting a new standard, it required a restructuring of how information flows between systems. This included remapping processes and ensuring that all parties in the network, from subcontractors to end users, could operate seamlessly under the new system. 

Upgrading the Workflow Application: Mendix 8 to Mendix 10

Another challenge was upgrading the Workflow application, which had been in operation since 2017, to the latest version of the Mendix platform. This upgrade was far from straightforward, especially since it had to be executed without disrupting the management of thousands of ongoing projects. These projects represent a wide array of telecommunications and utility networks, all progressing through multiple phases such as intake, design, and execution.  
 
“We upgraded from Mendix version 8 to version 10. I couldn’t do that myself—no one within Hanab could do that.” 
 
Roeland Drok, Citizen Developer at Hanab Telecom Infra

Securing the System: OAuth 2.0

Security was another key point within the project. The existing system used certificate-based authentication, a method that had become outdated and less effective against modern cybersecurity threats. The transition to OAuth 2.0, a widely accepted security protocol, introduced a new level of protection for Hanab’s sensitive project information. However, implementing OAuth 2.0 was no small feat—it involved configuring secure access tokens, integrating identity verification systems, and making sure every user and system could authenticate seamlessly under the new framework.

Collaboration Across Teams

Along with the technical challenges, the DSP 2.0 integration required collaboration between Hanab’s internal teams, subcontractors, and CLEVR. This meant aligning priorities, coordinating schedules, and ensuring that all parties had the tools and knowledge needed to transition smoothly. Such a large-scale collaboration increased the complexity of the project, making it essential to have an experienced partner.

CLEVR’s Solution

“CLEVR has helped us since the beginning–they built it from scratch, and we don’t have to worry when CLEVR’s on the project. They know what to do.” 

Roeland Drok, Citizen Developer at Hanab Telecom Infra

CLEVR helped the team at Hanab carry out the DSP 2.0 integration by using its vast Mendix expertise and management experience to keep the project on track and successful despite its complexity.

Transitioning to REST APIs

One of CLEVR’s key contributions was modernizing the data exchange system by transitioning from SOAP to REST APIs. This shift involved significant technical changes, including converting message formats from XML to JSON and redesigning how systems communicated. CLEVR’s team not only executed these changes but also made sure there was a seamless integration between the Workflow application and external systems like the Digital Collaboration Platform (DSP).

 
Implementing OAuth 2.0 for Enhanced Security

As you’d expect from a nationwide digital project, security was the priority, and CLEVR led the charge by implementing OAuth 2.0, a modern authentication protocol designed to secure sensitive data. This involved creating secure access tokens and integrating identity verification processes to replace the outdated certificate-based authentication. CLEVR’s ability to adapt to these new requirements ensured Hanab’s systems met the latest security standards without disrupting operations. 
 
“OAuth 2.0 was completely new for me… CLEVR took care of it for us, connecting with the right people and making it work.” 
 
Roeland Drok, Citizen Developer at Hanab Telecom Infra

Upgrading to Mendix 10

The upgrade of Hanab’s Workflow application from Mendix version 8 to version 10 was a critical component of the project. This task demanded extensive knowledge of Mendix and the Workflow application itself, as the system handles over 60,000 projects across multiple stages of development. CLEVR’s team meticulously planned the upgrade to make sure that all existing features and integrations functioned as intended while introducing the new capabilities of Mendix 10.

Flexibility and Last-Minute Adaptation

CLEVR’s flexibility and responsiveness were critical in overcoming challenges and quick changes in direction. When Hanab needed new integrations at the last minute to align with a broader ERP migration, CLEVR quickly adjusted its plans and delivered the required updates on time. "It was really last-minute, but CLEVR helped us with their planning and willingness to move forward. They made sure the new integrations were completed,” said Drok. 

Seamless Collaboration

CLEVR’s approach centered on an ability to collaborate seamlessly with both Hanab and its subcontractors. This extended beyond technical expertise; CLEVR’s familiarity with Hanab’s systems and processes meant they could anticipate needs and deliver solutions with minimal oversight. This not only saved time but also reduced the risk of errors, a critical factor given the project’s complexity. According to Drok, “Working with CLEVR proved to be a lot smoother [than with other suppliers].”

Impact and Future Outlook: Stronger Together

The DSP 2.0 integration has already delivered significant improvements to Hanab’s operations. By upgrading to modern REST APIs and implementing advanced security protocols like OAuth 2.0, CLEVR has enabled Hanab to streamline communication with subcontractors and improve the overall efficiency of their projects. This enhanced collaboration ensures that Hanab can deliver critical infrastructure projects, such as fiber optic installations, faster and with greater precision. 
 
For Hanab, this isn’t just about technology—it’s about maintaining their role as a cornerstone of the Netherlands’ digital infrastructure. The Workflow Infratechniek, now upgraded to Mendix version 10, is better equipped to handle the evolving needs of over 60,000 active projects, ensuring that Dutch citizens and businesses continue to enjoy reliable, high-speed connectivity. 

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