An interview with Jelle van Baggem, Manager of Digital Health
At Zorg van de Zaak, everything revolves around the health of working people in the Netherlands. But to achieve that mission, everything behind the scenes has to run smoothly - from systems and applications to IT support. Jelle van Baggem, Manager of Digital Health, leads the digital services within the network and explains how AI will play an increasingly important role. “Our people work hard every day to help others. Now it's time for technology to help them.”
A unique and dynamic network
“Care of the Cause is an occupational health network,” Jelle begins. “It consists of occupational health services, intervention companies and training and consulting firms that together focus on the working population. Think doctors, psychologists, mediators, as well as support services. Each company has its own processes and systems. Our job is to manage and integrate that digital infrastructure.”
Jelle's responsibilities include IT Service Desk, DevOps, application management and data logistics. “The number of employees in the network fluctuates constantly - companies are acquired or laid off. This means we have to constantly adapt: onboarding new employees, migrating systems, tuning infrastructures. In a recent collaboration, for example, we had to arrange accounts for more than 100 new colleagues, replace laptops, install wifi networks on site and perform data migrations. That's quite a task.”
Working smarter: creating space for quality
The avatar of Tod, Care of the Cause IT Service Desk's AI agent, was carefully designed by Jessica Veen, IT Service Desk Team Leader.
This ongoing dynamic places a heavy burden on the IT Service Desk. “Our colleagues at the Service Desk put their heart and soul into helping employees every day. When someone encounters a problem, we want them to get back to work as soon as possible. That's what we're there for. At the same time, I see how high the work pace is. I would like the team to create more room for structural improvements. That's why it's time to start working smarter.”
They are taking this step in part by deploying AI - in the form of a digital colleague: Tod, Conversed.ai's AI agent. “Tod will help employees with IT questions so they can be helped faster and more efficiently. This means the Service Desk will have more time for complex problems and innovation.” Training Tod takes time and effort, but Jelle is clear: “The goal - to help our people faster and better - is absolutely worth it.”
Why Conversed.ai?
The choice of Conversed.ai was no accident. “A number of labels within the Zorg van de Zaak network - including the company health services ZekerArbo, Zorg van de Zaak and Aditum Arbo - were already working with Conversed.ai,” says Jelle. “They were so enthusiastic about the collaboration - not only about the technology, but especially about the whole process: the guidance, the aftercare, the commitment. That gave us confidence.”
The future: talking to Tod instead of submitting tickets
What will Tod be able to do in the future? Jelle smiles, “First of all, we hope that this AI agent will handle a lot of the standard questions and requests. That employees will just get help faster without even realizing it - because Tod is giving suggestions to the service desk in the background.”
But that's not where it ends for him. “I want employees in the future not to have to go to a separate portal. They just ‘talk’ to Tod wherever they are - in the office, at home, on the road. Say what you need, and Tod will take care of it.”
AI in Digital Health: much more than IT
Tod's introduction to the IT Service Desk is just the beginning. “We have more teams where AI can add significant value,” says Jelle. “Our consultants work with standard integrations that are repeated over and over again. That's work where we can use AI. Or our application management team: why still create manuals yourself in the future when you can solve that with AI?”
He continued: “We are just getting started. AI surprises me every time. I don't know yet what will be possible in five years, but that it will be a lot, that's for sure. And I'm also sure that we, as Care of the Cause, will smartly anticipate that.”
A call to colleagues
Finally, Jelle has a clear and positive appeal to all colleagues in the network: “We are going to work with Tod, and I hope everyone embraces it with an open and curious attitude. Think of it as something interesting: a new colleague that we will train and educate together, making it a little better every time. Tod won't always be perfect right away, but by working with it together, we'll make it smarter every day. Contribute to that development, be a part of it and let's create something great together.”
