25 Years of ByeleX: Edwin van der Hooft looks back on a special period
A career of almost a quarter of a century at ByeleX: that is the story of Edwin van der Hooft, COO of ByeleX, who celebrates his 25th anniversary next month. From squeaky home computers in his youth to international customers and a near-catastrophe with a server – Edwin has experienced it all. In a nice conversation with reflections and an anecdote here and there, it becomes clear that it has certainly not been a boring few years.
From Quality in Logistics to Quality in the ICT Sector: A Dream Start?
As a child, Edwin had a love for home computers, which gave him an ideal image of the ICT sector and then labeled himself as: “a kind of natural born ICT person”. Many years later, in June 2000, he put his money where his mouth is and accepted a job at ByeleX as a Quality Consultant. At his previous employer Verbrugge he was already familiar with the EQS system and at ByeleX he was able to combine ICT and quality management.
“I thought: finally I’m going to take the plunge, I’m going to be an IT professional!” But after six months, doubt struck: the romantic image of ICT turned out to be different than expected: “I missed a bit the feeling of the dynamics of a large port and transport company. That took some getting used to.” But in the same period, that changed with the rise of EQS.
EQS, a digital quality platform, quickly became ByeleX’s flagship product. “It was the right time, the right product,” says Edwin. “Companies wanted to get rid of paper ISO manuals and all the hassle around it, and EQS offered a solution. It was a very nice period because then you really had to work with ICT, and that in combination with quality management, ideal.” With major customers such as Heineken, Vopak and Scottish Water, the success grew. My colleague Jaco Wouters, who has been working here for 27 years now, and I traveled all over the country as a Consultant. Those were golden years!”
Lotus Notes: Glory and Boundaries
EQS’s success rested on Lotus Notes and Domino, an IBM platform used by large companies. “In the early years smaller players couldn’t afford it and as a Windows version it was technically just too complicated and expensive. Later a Windows version was released,” explains Edwin. “Apps on mobile devices did not exist at the time, everything was local to the customer. For maintenance and management, this did cause some complications and it was not affordable in terms of price. Eventually, the market became saturated, and when IBM let it slip a bit, LN died a quiet death, to put it mildly. Our customers were more or less forced to say goodbye to the Notes platform and therefore to us. One of our major customers kept Lotus Notes running on an emergency server until 2023 – that says everything about their loyalty!”
There are also plenty of anecdotes. Take that time at a logistics services company in Rotterdam: “I used ‘Kill-Notes’, a kind of handy app, to fix a stuck Notes client. But the moment I activated it, all processes were shut down and I saw all the servers in the server room go out around me. They were those AS400 computers, those big computers, and booting up took a very long time. The connection with ship traffic had also failed, there was no connection at all.” That was a nerve-wracking moment, especially since it took about half an hour before the systems were back online. “Now I’m done,” Edwin thought, “I never have to come again”. Fortunately, the customer stayed and everything ended with a fizzle. “That may say more about EQS than it does about me.”
Missed opportunities and side paths
Although Edwin saw a golden future for EQS as a modern web application, other projects now absorbed his attention. Such as Catfish, a logistics branch of Catlogic, which Edwin was then put in charge of in 2008. There he was involved in secondment, warehouse management systems, and similar activities as with EQS at the time. It was a nice period, but a year and a half later it came to an abrupt end when the company was sold to Groeneveld ICT. All customers had to be transferred to the new owner and logistical activities could no longer be carried out by a non-compete clause. “A great pity because it had potential with large customers like Vopak,” Edwin thought.
In the same period, Arboned, a new customer of ByeleX, took up all the time and the emphasis shifted more to building websites, Drupal, and SaaS solutions. Another branch of ByeleX, ByeleX Labs, was involved in research.
Edwin was proud of the framework agreement he had concluded with ArboNed, an agreement that assured ByeleX of a fixed monthly turnover that would eventually last for many years.
But there were more successes: The license from the Dutch Central Bank to operate our ATM machines. ByeleX was the first crypto company in the Netherlands to be granted this license, a real milestone. Later came the lawsuit with the ABN that had stopped the cooperation because of the operation of the crypto ATMs, despite the license from the Dutch Central Bank. This was also won by ByeleX, a ‘David versus Goliath’ performance.
Edwin is now in the process of obtaining a MiCAR permit. “It’s a shame, because if we had further developed EQS at the time, we would now be at the forefront of MiCAR and AML regulations. But we have already come a long way and now more people are involved, including a hotshot lawyer.”
Anecdotes and Farewell
In between the serious reflections, the anecdotes keep coming. A demanding customer who invariably answered with “You are speaking to ‘Jansen’, a customer”, or the Heineken site manager who simply walked into a meeting in a motorcycle suit and quietly dressed up under the watchful eye of those present. Or a customer who was housed in a football stadium – the office door opened directly to the field. “Unforgettable! That was the nice thing about the job, there was a lot of diversity among the customers.”
Recently, the need for change has grown. “I wanted less travel time and more structure.” After 25 years, Edwin now chooses Damen Naval, a switch that did not go without sleepless nights. “When I signed the contract, I panicked for a moment. But it’s time.”
With a farewell party in prospect and a last ride from Oud-Gastel, Edwin closes an era. “ByeleX remains unique – it’s under your skin. The family feeling that when you drive towards Brabant you are not going to work but to ByeleX, a different context.
So thank you, ByeleX!“
With these words, we will not soon forget Edwin and wish him a great career with his new employer. We (not to mention our customers) will miss him.
Don’t be a stranger Edwin!
