Client Stories Archive - Sogeti Global

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March 12, 2025

The Dutch Tax & Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) chose Sogeti to provide DevOps testing innovation and expertise, implementing a uniform test approach and continuous knowledge sharing, so they can respond quickly and flexibly to new laws and regulations.

Sogeti’s impact at the Dutch Tax & Customs Administration:

Quality Engineering & Testing (QE&T): improving DevOps testing processes and automation, providing strategic advice and knowledge assurance, and playing an active role in department sessions for inspiration and knowledge-sharing.
Innovation and experimentation: supporting working groups and on-site test environments to help the Tax & Customs Administration with AI testing tools and Contract-Based Testing.
Knowledge sharing for the future: ensuring the consistent establishment of QE&T processes across the organization, leading to uniform practices and efficient team handovers.

Client: Belastingdienst

Region: Europe

Industry: Government & public sector

Offer: Quality Engineering & Testing

An essential government administration

As part of the Dutch Ministry of Finance, the Tax & Customs Administration is responsible for levying and collecting government taxes and social security contributions. Approximately 25,000 employees work from the head office in Apeldoorn and various regional offices across the country, processing national taxes and premiums for about 13 million citizens and two million companies. It’s a challenging remit, which involves €400 billion of public money each year, which means that transparency and accuracy are vital.

High stakes

The right software is vital for navigating the complex twists and turns of national taxes, and every application used by the Tax & Customs Administration needs to work flawlessly. Not only are public organizations under constant scrutiny, but the large amounts of money involved mean that even a small errors can have major financial and social consequences.

Transitioning to DevOps

Alongside software development and testing by 250 Scrum teams, an IT transition from traditional waterfall methodology to DevOps is also underway, to enable the Tax & Customs Administration to respond quickly to changing legislation.
As a testing specialist and with extensive DevOps knowledge and expertise, together with other partners Sogeti is supporting the Tax & Customs Administration in improving the quality and execution of Quality Engineering & Testing across the board. As a fully integrated partner, Sogeti experts work together with Belastingdienst teams on content and strategy, inspire solutions and ensure knowledge retention.

We are very proud that a socially essential organization such as the Tax & Customs Administration relies on our Quality Engineering & Testing. And because we can see behind the scenes, we’re learning as much from them as they are from us.

Patricia Riebroek

Client Partner | Finance Ministry | Tax & Customs Sogeti

Strategic thinking at the heart of a two-way partnership

The Dutch Tax & Customs Administration needs to be able to call on the right Quality Engineering & Testing expertise when they need to and with an extensive pool of test engineers, Sogeti is an ideal partner. The Tax & Customs Administration keeps Sogeti up to speed with the latest developments and innovations in the field, while Sogeti advises on quality strategy and any adjustments that need making in response to the current situation. Key questions for consideration include: how can we structure and document the way 250 teams work without restricting their freedom? How can we best leverage test automation in this? How can we boost Contract-Based Testing?

Mindspace in the making

The IT department of the Tax & Customs Administration now has the space to look ahead, because it knows it can trust Quality Engineering & Testing partners including Sogeti. How to continuously optimize Quality Engineering & Testing is an important question in departmental sessions, during which Sogeti has a key role to play. In sharing how other organizations approach Quality Engineering & Testing and explaining the tech opportunities coming up, Sogeti teams can challenge in-house testing teams, paving the way for future innovation.

To foster a culture of experimentation and innovation, Tax & Customs Administration test engineers take part in working groups to kook at specifics, like a deep dive into how AI testing tooling works, or carrying out a proof-of-concept for Contract-Based Testing in a closed, on-site testing environment, for example. All insights gained are shared with colleagues, building on previous knowledge and inspiring them to think in new ways.

Looking ahead with knowledge-sharing

Knowledge sharing and safeguarding is a priority for the Tax & Customs Administration – partly due to the increasingly ageing population — and the Testing department has an important role to play. Input from Sogeti and other partners helps to draw up a consistent working methodology for Quality Engineering & Testing, including test frameworks, tooling and documentation, enabling the Tax & Customs Administration to ensure that all Scrum teams work in more or less the same way, can take over tasks from each other more easily and onboard new team members more quickly. Through the partnership, Sogeti is helping to lay a solid foundation for continuous growth in Quality Engineering & Testing at the Dutch Tax & Customs Administration.