Hyfen may be invisible to many consumers. Still, this service provider’s platform makes the pensions of more than half of Dutch pensioners more accessible and, soon, easier to understand as well. Recently, the company, founded five years ago by APG, was nominated for the Tech Hero Award. “The great thing about the pension sector is that you don’t operate on the margins,” says CEO Hidde Terpoorten.
What is your USP? What do you add to what already exists?
“We are active in the Dutch pension market, which is a highly specialized sector. I dare say that we are the only party capable of making new technologies such as AI, blockchain, or biometric data reading, suitable for application in this sector.”
“Traditionally, pension funds and insurers have been fairly risk-averse. We have very high standards [in the Netherlands] when it comes to security, compliance, and privacy. I believe that with Hyfen, we can meet those high standards and offer innovative technology in the sector.”
“That gives us a unique position. Our PensionLink platform, which is now connected to 60 percent of the pension market, is used by our customers for one or more of our applications. This enables us to reach millions of end-users and make an impact. That’s the beauty of the pension sector, of course, that you’re not operating on the margins. When we launch our applications, large groups of people will use them. I think that makes our position in the market unique.”
“Our customers are very loyal. Once they purchase one service, they often go on to purchase other services as well. They themselves are often unable or lack the expertise to integrate innovative technology into their business operations. Through our platform, we can do just that. Everything is secure, compliant, and designed with an eye on privacy. And that’s why customers trust us.”
“The beauty of the pension sector is that you’re not operating on the margins. When we launch our applications, large groups of people will use them”
“With PensionLink, we connect with the administration of pension funds and insurers. This connection enables us to exchange data with these parties, allowing end-users to manage their pensions digitally and innovatively through customer journeys. Specifically, we are talking about a service such as MijnWaardeoverdracht.nl, where people can log in via DigiD and transfer their pension fund from A to B.”
“That transfer is still often done on paper and takes eight months, but we have completely digitized it. It is a rather complex process, and a lot of data must be exchanged between parties. Through our platform, people can do this in real time. What I like about it is that it is super simple for the end user. We take care of all the complexity in the background, in accordance with all laws and regulations.”
“Another application we are working on is Textbuddy. This tool helps non-native speakers, users with low literacy skills, or people with visual impairments by simplifying or translating the communications from their pension fund. We have just gone live with Pensioenfonds Schoonmaak, which has a very diverse group of participants. Now, someone with a Turkish background or someone from Ukraine can read the rather complicated letters from the pension fund in a simplified form or in their own language. The responses from end users have been extremely positive. We do this with AI, of course, but in a responsible manner. Well-framed, secure, ensuring that pension data does not leak to American companies.”
“Of course, you can enter your pension letters into ChatGPT yourself and ask for a summary. But the quality of that is actually still too low. That tool doesn’t understand that it’s about pensions or how the rules work exactly. And don’t forget the privacy aspect, because you’re throwing your personal data over the fence. I think we’re making a big difference here. This service can, of course, also be used far beyond the pension sector, because pension funds are by no means the only parties that send complicated letters in Dutch to target groups who may have difficulty understanding them.”
“We are now in talks with the European Federation of Pension Funds to see if this solution can also be rolled out in Europe. That is, of course, a great development for us.”
What is the biggest challenge your organization is currently facing?
“All parties in the pension market are switching to the new pension system. Perhaps not everyone is aware of this, but it is the biggest overhaul of the pension system ever, and the process will take until 2028. This means that our customers are all extremely busy, making sure the transition goes smoothly. As a result, there is less room in the IT calendars to connect innovative new services to the standard services. For us, this makes it commercially difficult to connect many new customers quickly.”
“At the same time, we note that all existing customers have incorporated our services into their processes by default. They already look at how they can use more services once they have switched to the new system. So we are taking steps, but the upscaling is not happening as quickly as we would like.”
What are you proud of?
“I am most proud that we are really helping people with the software we build. That we have succeeded in making something as complicated as pensions easier. That we are ensuring that people do something [with their pension information] that they might not do without an easy-to-use website or app. We also see this reflected in the feedback we receive from end users. As a software company primarily concerned with very complicated, complex technology, data connections, and the like, it’s great to see how that translates into improvements for that group. The fact that we are working on this every day makes not only me, but the whole team proud.”