INAMI-RIZIV – the Belgian National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance – manages government resources for insuring medical care and disability benefits, using extensive IT infrastructure to lead everything along the right lines. The government agency has a framework contract with Realdolmen to supply in-house consultants to support existing systems and future innovation.

Looking for the best Microsoft partner

Recruiting a partner in a federal setting is a bit different from normal. It’s not INAMI-RIZIV itself, but Smals, a non-profit organization, that brings public services into contact with IT partners and selects suppliers via a framework contract. ‘We need to draw up a profile when we want a new partner. Smals then looks for the right consultant who best matches our requirements,’ explains Mitrovic. ‘Realdolmen is one of the most suitable external Microsoft consultants, and we’re very happy with them. We’ve already worked together in the past, and that was a very positive experience. It also means the organization is already familiar with INAMI-RIZIV, our needs and profiles. So they’re definitely one of our preferred partners.’

Collaborating on Government Cloud

The consultants’ expertise can also be noticed outside INAMI-RIZIV. ‘Our IT department actively puts its weight behind innovation within government, meaning we take lots of responsibility for the Government Cloud. We’re working with the Microsoft Azure stack there, among other things, so we’re only too happy to be able to make use of our Realdolmen consultants’ expertise,’ says Marly. ‘It’s just one of the ways they profile themselves as a genuine partner. From our perspective, we consider them to be an integral part of our team: we train together, eat together in our canteen, and they have coordination meetings too, just like our own employees.’