How Vergeer Holland replaced spreadsheet chaos with audit-ready confidence
When the auditor walks in, the answer is already on the screen
A fast-moving operation with a slow, fragile system
Vergeer Holland ripens and packages cheese for export markets around the world. It’s a compliance-heavy business, and for a long time, the system underpinning workforce qualifications was a single, sprawling Excel file.
“We had a big Excel sheet with all skills and qualities,” said Anne Houben, Learning & Development Coordinator at Vergeer Holland. “It was a lot of work and uploading, especially with audits. It was a hard way to find people and it took a long time to open the file.”
That last detail is telling. When a file takes a long time to open, it’s already too big to be useful – and when auditors come knocking, “too big to be useful” is not an option.
The audit problem that forced a change
Vergeer needed to be able to demonstrate, clearly and immediately, that their workforce was properly qualified, not after digging through a spreadsheet, but in the moment.
“The biggest operational pain point to look for another system was our audits,” Houben said. “We wanted to show in the audit that we were well-qualified, that we had well-qualified employees. And we looked for a system that could show that immediately within our conversation with an auditor.”
That’s a specific and demanding requirement, one that involves both having the data and being able to surface it on demand, with confidence, in front of someone whose job is to find gaps.
We wanted to show in the audit that we were well-qualified, that we had well-qualified employees. And we looked for a system that could show that immediately.
Anne Houben
Learning & Development Coordinator, Vergeer Holland
Visibility that reaches beyond L&D
One of the more significant shifts after implementing AG5 involved accountability. Skills management stopped being something that lived exclusively in the L&D function and became something managers could see and act on themselves.
“AG5 gives us a good overview of all the skills. Not only us, but also the managers. So they can see for themselves what kind of skills people need to do,” Houben said. “So that also gives them a responsibility to see what’s happening in their departments.”
The team uses AG5’s Insights feature to give managers a live picture of where their teams stand. When the data is visible, the ownership follows.
A system that grows with you
Houben’s account shines light on how Vergeer’s relationship with AG5 didn’t stop at implementation. Monthly sessions give the team a regular touchpoint to ask questions, surface new needs, and keep improving how they work with the platform.
“Every time we have a question and we want to improve something, AG5 has a solution or has a solution in the future,” Houben said.
AG5 gives us a good overview of all the skills. Not only us, but also the managers. So they can see for themselves what kind of skills people need to do.
Anne Houben
Learning & Development Coordinator, Vergeer Holland
For Vergeer Holland, the complexity must lie in the product, not the tools it uses to run day-to-day operations. AG5 gives Vergeer’s team the clarity they need to keep their workforce qualified, their managers informed, and their auditors satisfied, all without opening a spreadsheet.
