One team, one vision: how Aalberts hfc unlocked HR efficiency with SAP SuccessFactors

Sep 02, 2025
  • sales, marketing and service

Aalberts hydronic flow control (hfc) is part of Aalberts NV, a company known for its entrepreneurial culture and decentralized structure. When its HR operations became too fragmented to support growth, People & Culture Director Mariëlle Naarsing led a strategic shift toward unified, insight-driven HR. A phased transformation powered by SAP SuccessFactors and delivered in collaboration with delaware. The result? Cleaner data, better decision-making, and a platform that’s ready to scale across the entire group. 

4 

SAP SuccessFactors modules live

Employee Central, Onboarding, Performance & Goals, Compensation

0 

FTEs cut

Transformation focused on increasing value, not downsizing.

100%

On time and on budget

Every module delivered within the agreed scope and budget.

1,5

Years

From zero to a solid pilot for international rollout.

Challenge

Aalberts hfc employs 1,600 people and has experienced decades of growth through a decentralized structure. While the company’s entrepreneurial culture and growth remained strong, its HR operations didn’t support the growth ambitions.

“I couldn’t even answer the question ‘how many people work in several sales roles across our entities’ without chasing data across multiple systems and Excel files,” recalls Mariëlle. “That’s when we knew something had to change if we wanted to make a proper analysis and comparison.”

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  • Legacy tools created inefficiencies, hindered internal mobility, and complicated even basic reporting.
  • Compliance requirements and European regulations were adding extra pressure.
  • The People & Culture team lacked the real-time visibility needed to act as a true business partner.

“We were stuck in admin mode. To truly support the business and help it grow, P&C needed to step up and transform.”


Solution

To support Aalberts hfc in its evolution toward modern HR, delaware proposed a phased transformation using SAP SuccessFactors, built on its FAST HR methodology. This approach focused on:

  • Foundational strength: For starters, getting core data and HR processes right 
  • Scalable architecture: Modular rollouts, tailored to each region’s maturity
  • Cultural fit: Close collaboration, clear roles, and pragmatic co-ownership


From day one, delaware and Aalberts  hfc agreed on one thing: this had to be a business transformation, not just a tech implementation.

We knew early on that Aalberts hfc wasn’t looking for just a tool. They needed a transformation partner who understood both the business and the people
Hans Huybrechts, Project & GTM Lead at delaware

What did
we do?

Strong foundations first

The first phase focused on the Dutch entities in Almere and Wijhe. Here, delaware implemented a lean but powerful core HR setup using SAP SuccessFactors, tailored to Aalberts hfc’s complex structure and decentralization.

Lean team, close collaboration

The project team intentionally remained small and stable, with no more than four consultants from delaware and a tight-knit group from Aalberts hfc. Together, they delivered every phase on time and within budget, despite working with limited capacity.

Aalberts hfc & delaware

FAST HR is delaware’s tried-and-trusted methodology that combines SAP’s best practices with our own experience from past transformations. It offers a near-complete template to speed up the discovery and design phase.

For Aalberts hfc this meant we could start from 80% standard configuration and focus our workshops on the remaining 20% of business-specific needs. This not only reduced cost and risk but also simplified future international rollouts.

Want to know what delaware can do for your team? Discover our solutions for HR.

Results

The transformation is still underway, but the first milestones are already reshaping the ways in which HR operates:

  • Real-time insights: For the first time, Aalberts hfc can access centralized HR data and management reports, including compensation and talent metrics.
  • Stronger governance: Digital workflows reduce compliance risk and manual overhead
  • Improved employee and manager experience: Self-service tools now handle tasks that used to flood the HR inbox.
  • Cultural shift: Managers are now expected to own HR tasks instead of deferring them to the People & Culture team
  • Compliance with new regulations: Aalberts hfc is compliant European requirements such as the CSRD and preparations for equal pay audits are ongoing. SuccessFactors provides the structure to deliver these insights with confidence.


Mariëlle puts it plainly: “We need to prove how we add value to the business as P&C. That means we’ll need data we can trust.”


Aalberts hfc  & delaware

Aalberts hfc is a high-tech industrial innovator with deep roots and a clear growth ambition. Their People & Culture team has become a driving force in that evolution. 

“We work closely together with Mariëlle and her team as strategic partners,” says Hans Huybrechts, Project & GTM Lead at delaware. “They’ve been clear on their vision from the start, and we’ve adapted our role to support and challenge them as needed.”

That mutual respect led to an unusually close collaboration, marked by short lines, stable teams, and shared success. “We don’t do everything ourselves, but we do everything together. That’s the kind of partnership we believe in.”

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