Company history

Time to look back. Time four our story.

For 25 years, we have been developing software that works quietly in the background. And precisely because of that, it is reliable. Systems that do not need to be rebuilt with every change. Solutions that can grow over time because they are clearly structured.

How this idea came to life, what shaped it and why it still holds today is something we discussed with Philipp Künsch, the founder of Datalizard. A conversation about the early days, about decisions, and about how an idea became a platform that continues to endure.

25 years of Datalizard. Our beginnings.

A conversation with Philipp Künsch, founder of Datalizard

Philipp, how did Datalizard come into being?

In the early 2000s, I was working in consulting. We developed a lot of solutions, but time and again from scratch. That bothered me. I wanted to create something that would last. A platform that separates technology from business logic, that can be reused and that allows our clients to build on what already exists instead of starting from zero with every project.

What happened next?

I presented the idea to a large bank. There was no finished product, only sketches and conviction. They said yes. And then I had to deliver. That was the first real test.

The challenge was to build something that not only worked, but also met the growing requirements for traceability and reproducibility. These requirements became legally binding in the United States from 2002 onwards with the Sarbanes Oxley Act. The background was major accounting scandals, including Enron and WorldCom. The new regulatory framework demanded greater transparency, documentation and auditability in IT supported business processes. This applied to international companies and their software providers alike.

I wanted to show that it is possible to build applications where business logic is separated from technology. This protects the investment in the business solution over the long term, even as the technological foundation continues to evolve. Our task was to ensure this technological renewal on an ongoing basis, without our clients losing clarity or control. Bringing all of this together was a major challenge, but also a great opportunity.

And that is where the Lizard came into play?

Yes, actually. Although the idea did not come from me, but from my wife. During a brainstorming session, after the second margarita at a local Mexican restaurant, she suddenly said: You are like a lizard. Agile, adaptable and always one step ahead. I laughed, but she was right.

The lizard is fast, agile and flexible. It adapts to its environment. When necessary, it can even stay under cover. In a critical situation, it has a built in fallback scenario. When threatened, it sheds its tail, escapes and simply grows on.

This ability fascinated us immediately. Because that is exactly what we wanted to enable with our platform. The ability to deal with change, to start anew and to keep evolving without losing sight of the bigger picture. And when something does not work as planned, it should not require a complete rebuild, but a well thought out workaround.

How did the people around you react to the idea?

Fortunately, my wife Susanne is an optimist. She encouraged me because she believed in the idea and in me. This was despite the imminent birth of our first child. Today, she is a member of the board and a shareholder. Without her support, I probably could not have taken this path.

What were the biggest challenges in the early years?

Earning the trust of clients. And to be honest, that is still one of our biggest challenges today. As a smaller company, it is difficult to compete with big names, even though we have been delivering stable and long lasting solutions for 25 years now. We do not have a large sales organisation. What we do have is deep expertise and substance. From the very beginning, our principle was clear. Quality before volume. Every solution must be durable, secure and extensible.

Datalizard is often described as a hidden champion today. Why ist he company not larger?

Because I preferred to invest my energy in challenging projects rather than in marketing. It was always more important to me to remain technologically leading. That is why we consistently invested in further development instead of sales or visibility.

From the start, I had Tomasz Bielec by my side as CTO. He shares this mindset and acts as our technical conscience, so to speak. And with our team in Poland, we were able to expand our development capacity in a targeted way.

Digitalisation was hardly a common term back then. Our approach of decoupling business logic and making processes model driven was new. We had to do a lot of convincing. Today, low code, no code and integrative platforms are widely recognised. In a way, our path has been confirmed, even if it took longer.