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Seibert celebrates a significant milestone this month: 15 years as an Atlassian partner! Since February 2009, our partnership has thrived - and that's a long time in the software and IT sector.

Back then, Atlassian was in its early stages, and many of today’s global solutions like Jira Service Management and Bitbucket didn’t even exist. Cloud products were a distant idea. At that time, Atlassian's expansive role in productivity software was just beginning to take shape.

Since 2009, Atlassian has changed and developed a lot. As a company, we’ve also evolved and reinvented ourselves over the years. What started as a service company with just a few dozen employees has transformed into a software manufacturer boasting a team of over 400 employees. As an ambitious partner, we are now considered an Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner, making us one of the largest contributors to the Atlassian ecosystem.

But how did the partnership between Atlassian and Seibert actually begin? Let’s take a journey back in time, spanning 15 years, and share the story of how we first encountered the world of Atlassian and fell in love with their collaboration tools.

The Search for Knowledge Management Solutions

How can companies ensure the effective storage and perpetual usability of their internal information and ever-expanding knowledge? That was the question on the minds of many companies, including ours, a decade and a half ago. Our solution? Wiki software!

Imagine centralizing your information with an internal website editor, accessible to all teams - essentially creating a Wikipedia within the company. What a fantastic concept! This held immense potential for our customers, who were eagerly seeking solutions to tap into the abundant knowledge within their organizations. And this is just one use case for a wiki!

As a young, modern company, we envisioned ourselves as fresh thinkers. It was integral to our identity to challenge the then-dominant intranet and wiki solution MS Sharepoint, and provide our customers with a streamlined alternative.

We found our answer in TWiki, which later evolved into Foswiki. It offered an open-source alternative - a nimble choice compared to the heavyweight MS SharePoint. Foswiki was highly customizable, license-free, and freed users from lock-in effects and vendor dependencies. Though it presented some challenges - being a bit tricky for non-tech-savvy users and complex to administer - these were trade-offs we willingly embraced. 15 years ago, having it all wasn’t an option.

A Conference in Porto and the Consequences

Then came WikiSym 2008 in Porto, a conference on the hot topic. Martin Seibert, the ambitious up-and-coming expert, was invited to present on ‘Success factors for wikis.’ Interestingly, the wiki experts assembled there were hardly talking about the open source solutions that were on our agenda, but rather about Atlassian’s Confluence.

Martin brought back a wealth of use cases that could be implemented more seamlessly and effectively with Confluence compared to TWiki or Foswiki - a genuine eye-opener. (At that time, Confluence was in version 2, with version 3 following in mid-2009).

The consequence became evident: we would immerse ourselves deeply in Atlassian solutions, as our customers sought nothing but the best option on the market. It didn’t take long for us to be convinced that Atlassian products were the best choice.

The next logical step was establishing ourselves in the Atlassian ecosystem, leveraging its open partner infrastructure, and officially becoming a partner. This initiation process was completed in February 2009 - marking the moment we could proudly display the Atlassian partner logo!

The success story began to unfold: in 2011, we proudly accepted the ‘Fastest Growing Partner’ award at the Atlassian Summit, a significant achievement. In the same year, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes even spoke about us on camera:

It's been a long time 😀

15 Years of Successful Partnership

After 15 years of partnership, it’s no secret that Atlassian has evolved into a cornerstone of our customer solutions. The significance of this collaboration has grown to such an extent that at the end of 2023, we established our Atlassian business on its own, together with other partners.

Over the years, we’ve worked with thousands of customers on Atlassian projects and guided numerous companies through their migration journey to the Cloud. Presently, our teams have contributed over 30 app developments to the Marketplace, including draw.io, which is one of the most successful and popular offerings on the Marketplace.

However, our collaboration with Atlassian has always gone beyond project and product work. Several Atlassian professionals, including our former Atlassian ambassador Sven Peters (Head of Software Teams Business), Jens Schumacher (Group Product Manager), and Wendell Keuneman, have supported us in Wiesbaden as speakers and contacts at events and conferences. We’ve traveled to numerous Atlassian events worldwide, where Martin quickly gained a reputation as "the guy with the microphone" on the hunt for interviews - until Sherif Mansour (Confluence Product Manager) playfully turned the tables on him. 😉 Notably, it was also the amiable Sherif who offered us a good-humored tour of the Atlassian office during our initial visit to Sydney.

Undoubtedly, over the years, there have been moments of friction, as is typical when ambitious and self-confident teams collaborate. We may have crossed a line here or there. However, every challenge was navigated through professional, open discussion - just as it should be (although, as we all know, there are cases where things unfold differently)!

And today? Atlassian, now a thriving billion-dollar company and a major player on the global market, maintains a close, transparent, and equal partnership with its collaborators. This, not taken for granted, gives us the confidence that this won’t be the last anniversary we celebrate. Here’s to 15 successful years - and to all the exciting prospects that lie ahead!

Seibert Solutions - Your Experienced Atlassian Partner

As you can see: when it comes to Atlassian solutions, you’re in capable hands with us! That's why we extend an invitation: discover more about us, or let’s explore how we can assist you and your company together! Feel free to contact us or browse through our website.

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Further Reading

• #5havebecome1: Seibert Solutions Takes Flight for Your Atlassian Ecosystem!
• #5become1 Or: Why We Can Achieve More for Your Atlassian Ecosystem with Seibert Solutions