Celebrating 14 Years of DEMICON: An Interview with Philipp Batman

2021 came with a fresh new design and feel for DEMICON, something we're proud to call the de-branding of DEMICON. 

This step marked a significant point in the company's timeline, enforcing our responsibility to inspire and motivate our partners and both current and future clients by constantly looking forward. Not only that, 2022 officially marks 14 years of DEMICON! 

To celebrate this monumental occasion, we caught up with DEMICON Co-Founder and CEO Philipp Batman to discover more about the origins of the company, what the future holds, and a glimpse into what motivates him the most.

Reflecting on the beginnings

The idea for DEMICON started while Philipp was a consultant for a technology agency based in Stuttgart when an opportunity came along to start his own business with a friend who was looking to partner up. In January 2008, DEMICON was officially born as a company focusing on engineering. Then, after years of success, Philipp wanted to push the scope and potential of what DEMICON could do as an organization by pivoting towards offering dynamic IT services, software development, and helping businesses with their IT through consulting.

2021: The year of disruption

For some businesses, 2021 was a challenging year. Fortunately for DEMICON, the year of disruption proved to be a very positive time for the company.

"We've always positioned ourselves as an agile consultancy that puts remote working first for our clients and team. So, we were already well-prepared to go completely remote for the foreseeable future. We're also in the space of digital collaboration and offer services to get businesses set up with this new way of working. 2021 fully turbocharged this side of the business," explained Philipp.

Looking towards the future

After reflecting on the early days and the present goings-on of DEMICON, let's now look towards the future of the business and get some insights into some of Philipp's predictions for the most significant disruptions and trends in store for the IT industry in 2022.

What's in store for DEMICON in the next year or so?

"We've started to expand the business units of DEMICON, which we aim to grow further, both in terms of team growth and accounts. It's exhilarating to see the possibilities coming our way!"

Thinking further down the line, where do you want to see DEMICON in the future?

"My dream is to bring DEMICON into the top charts of specialized IT companies as one of the best IT service providers in DACH. We are already in the process of achieving this goal."

Moving away from DEMICON, what do you think will be the biggest IT trends to be on the lookout for?

"I believe there will be an ongoing shift from on-premise applications to more cloud-based SaaS solutions, with businesses moving entirely from their own servers to the cloud.

Within Germany specifically, I see Cloud Engineering becoming more apparent, merging high-quality, well-built machinery with digital offerings. Soon, there will be no high complex project that doesn't also have a software touchpoint.

The way people will work together will change, pivoting to digital collaboration tools. The basic need for this tool did not exist so much at the beginning of 2019, but now, in 2022, it's a crucial part of any workflow. It'll be our job to discover and rediscover the best practices to offer to a company looking to get correctly set up."

What do you think will be the subsequent major disturbances and developments in the IT industry?

“Software development itself will start to see significant changes. We're moving into the era of infrastructure built without code, which I think will cause some exciting disruption. In the next few years, how much expertise do you need to still code? For me, that's a compelling concept to think about.

Also, instant translation is exciting! With advances in translation software being able to translate text, video, and voice, this opens up so many possibilities. Imagine being able to translate from Urdu to German in real-time? Suddenly, the doors are opened to more talent working within the German IT industry without language barriers. I find that very inspiring moving forward."

The art of finding inspiration

Speaking of inspiration, let's find out a little more about the person behind the mind of DEMICON.

So Philipp, What inspires you the most in life?

"It's inspiring to see people doing what they love doing and doing it well. People who look at the bigger picture and think about how this greater meaning ties together. I really value people with capability, integrity, and empathy.

I'd say what motivated me the most to set up a business is being independent in my own actions and not being tied down to outside forces."

What do you like to do in your spare time?

"I'm a big reader! I'd rather read than watch something any day. I religiously read The Economist every week in the afternoon; that's if I get enough peace. I also try to lead a healthy lifestyle, maintaining running and sport when I can."

Ah, what books did you last read?

"Let's take a look in my Kindle...the last few reads were Barack Obama's biography (he's one of the U.S.'s best presidents), and the biography of Robert Maxwell, which was a recommendation in The Economist. I find biographies inspiring."

There you have it! A brief look at the beginnings of DEMICON and the exciting times ahead. If you'd like to be a part of the DEMICON journey, check out our careers page to see if there's a position that fits you.