The project overview
Taking care is a central concept in healthcare—and it’s precisely what ZilliZ’s care administration system delivers. By simplifying reporting, invoicing, time tracking, and record-keeping, ZilliZ makes small-scale healthcare easier and more enjoyable.
However, ZilliZ’s rapid customer growth soon outpaced platform development. “Too much time was spent on legacy issues and not enough on innovation,” explains Rutger Buddingh, Managing Director of ZilliZ. Enter We Are North: as a trusted partner, we migrated the entire platform to the cloud to enhance scalability, flexibility, and security.
Today, over 35,000 healthcare professionals across 2,000+ providers rely on ZilliZ. It’s the go-to solution for small-scale healthcare providers, from independent practitioners to collaborative organizations. “We serve care farms with just a handful of employees and about fifteen clients. They want to focus on delivering care, not managing administration,” Rutger shares.
“Our application is user-friendly and built for real-world use. Our customer service isn’t just ‘click this button’—we genuinely guide users. It’s why we have a product Net Promoter Score (pNPS) of 47. When your NPS is above 50, customers start coming to you automatically,” Rutger notes with pride.
ZilliZ embodies the archetype of a protector. “We relieve our clients’ burdens, act in their best interests, and proactively support them. Our team is deeply connected to the healthcare industry, and our software enhances the quality and efficiency of small-scale care,” Rutger explains. This philosophy, combined with their use of Lucee—a lightweight CFML scripting language—fueled their growth. But as Rutger notes, “Lucee allowed us to develop quickly, but it also increased technical debt. We needed help to continue growing, which is when we partnered with We Are North.”
Breaking down spaghetti code
The collaboration began in 2018 with a thorough assessment of the platform. “The application worked, but its structure made development inefficient,” explains Guust Nieuwenhuis, Senior Technical Lead at We Are North. “The code was interdependent and tangled—what we call spaghetti. We started restructuring it into reusable, independent components—a composable architecture. This improved maintainability and allowed us to focus more on innovation.”
The process accelerated in 2022 when VISMA, a Norwegian software company with 190 subsidiaries, 50 of which are in the Benelux, acquired ZilliZ. “VISMA lets business units like ZilliZ operate independently, but security is a top priority. We had to elevate our security standards quickly,” Rutger recalls.
An unexpected opportunity arose when their service provider was acquired, prompting the question: stick with hosting or moving to the cloud? “Our client base kept growing, and thanks to We Are North, cloud migration suddenly became a very viable option.” Rutger Buddingh, algemeen directeur ZilliZ
Smart cloud migration
“There are many ways to migrate to the cloud,” Guust explains. “From simple lift-and-shift to full microservices redesigns. For ZilliZ, we chose a partially modernized approach—maximizing cloud benefits with minimal effort. We containerized the application and made it stateless.
Containerization involves bundling code and dependencies—like libraries and frameworks—into separate containers, making the application platform-independent for easier development and scaling. Statelessness ensures that no data is stored in the container—all data is managed externally. Together, these strategies enhance flexibility and scalability.”
“We also wrote the infrastructure as code, allowing it to scale seamlessly alongside the application,” Guust adds.
“The migration went remarkably smoothly—VISMA was impressed,” Rutger notes. “Despite concerns about our rapid growth, We Are North proved we could scale efficiently while improving performance and maintaining stability.”
“We Are North truly relieved us of the burden of supporting and enhancing our platform.” Rutger Buddingh, algemeen directeur ZilliZ
Room for sustainable growth
With a more future-proof platform, ZilliZ is well-positioned for sustainable growth. “We Are North’s work has taken the pressure off across the board,” Rutger explains. “Our code is easier to maintain, performance has improved, scaling is simpler, and—critically—we now meet VISMA’s security standards. None of this would’ve been possible without We Are North.”
Over time, the We Are North team supporting ZilliZ expanded. “We’ve adapted to their organization while staying true to our core principles,” Guust shares.
“We consider the We Are North team an extension of our workforce—not external contractors, but part of our team,” Rutger adds. “Their pragmatic approach, clear communication, and no-nonsense collaboration have built a foundation of trust. That trust continues to drive our sustainable growth together.”