Lessons from 2023. A look back and our ambitions for 2024
Knock There are those years when it seems like nothing works. OK, that may be putting it in black and…
Controlled Growth
2025 was a year of steady, deliberate growth for our organization. In the market, we saw a clear shift from quick fixes to sustainable choices and a growing demand for specialized database expertise. Challenges became more complex, expectations higher, and conversations more substantive. That’s exactly where we feel at home as database experts.
Growth in Clients, People, and Trust
In 2025, we welcomed 25 new clients, organizations that consciously chose depth, stability, and database expertise. Notably, our international footprint continued to expand. The number of international clients is steadily increasing, confirming that specialized database knowledge knows no borders.
Internally, 2025 was also a stable and positive year. We welcomed four new colleagues: three database experts and one office manager. And not a single employee left the company. That may be what we’re most proud of. Retaining knowledge is at least as important as attracting it.
We also celebrated three anniversaries this year, with colleagues marking five and six years at OptimaData, a strong sign that we are building an organization focused on continuity.
Knowledge Sharing, Community, and Craftsmanship
Knowledge sharing remained a key pillar in 2025. We delivered Blue Elephant Masterclass training sessions for 16 PostgreSQL experts, training and certifying these professionals. Demand for in-depth PostgreSQL expertise continues to grow, especially as more business-critical workloads run on open-source databases.
We also played an active role in the community. As initiator and organizer of PostgreSQL Usergroup NL, we hosted three meetups in 2025, each with exceptional attendance and strong technical speakers. It confirms that there is a real need in the Netherlands for in-depth knowledge sharing and practical expertise at a high level.
In addition, we were visible at events such as SeaQL Saturday, PGDay Lowlands, and the Redgate Summit, which we proudly sponsored. The database community is critical, mature, and constantly evolving. We’re proud to contribute to that ecosystem.
Certification as a Foundation
In a time when data is increasingly sensitive and business-critical, trust is not optional. In 2025, we renewed our ISO 27001 certification and updated it to the latest standard. Our NEN 4400 certification was also successfully renewed. For us, these certifications are not a formality, they form the foundation of professional and responsible operations.
Database Challenges in 2025
As in previous years, clear patterns emerged in the challenges organizations faced. The common thread: databases are more important than ever and more complex.
Cloud: Mature, but Not a Silver Bullet
The cloud has matured, but the idea that “the cloud will take care of it” is fading. In 2025, we saw many environments where databases were technically running, but not optimally aligned with their workloads.
Fully managed databases often create a sense of convenience while hiding complexity. Performance issues, unpredictable behavior, and tuning limitations were recurring themes. The lesson remains: even in the cloud, databases require attention, expertise, and customization.
Cost Awareness as a Structural Theme
One theme that stood out more strongly in 2025 was cost awareness. Organizations want better control over cloud spending, but cutting costs without insight often leads to instability or performance degradation.
Undersized instances, poorly chosen storage, or auto-scaling resources without clear boundaries frequently caused both performance issues and unexpectedly high costs. Cost optimization and performance are not opposites they are closely linked.
Based on these experiences, we launched OptimaSure in 2025, our initiative focused on Azure cost optimization. With OptimaSure, we help organizations gain insight into their Azure environments, reduce waste, and better align infrastructure with actual database requirements, without compromising reliability or performance.
Maintenance, Monitoring, and Data Models
Deferred maintenance and insufficient monitoring remained recurring issues in 2025. Monitoring is increasingly seen as essential but it only delivers value when properly configured and actively used.
We also continued to encounter inefficient queries and suboptimal data models, particularly in fast-growing datasets. Design decisions from the past become painfully visible as volumes increase. Open-source databases are powerful but they require a solid understanding of what happens under the hood.
Interim Services: Supporting Our Core Business
A brief note on our interim services, which we consciously position as complementary to our core database consulting activities.
At the start of 2025, the interim market looked uncertain. Regulatory developments, ambiguity around enforcement, and client hesitation to hire independent contractors created a cautious environment.
Despite this, we achieved a record 26 new interim assignments throughout the year, with both existing clients and seven new ones.
Through our interim services, we support both our clients and our network of data professionals. We help clients with additional capacity alongside our technical expertise and provide independent professionals with engaging assignments.
We have also supported many former freelancers through our payroll solution, allowing them to maintain entrepreneurial flexibility while complying with regulations. In doing so, we help keep knowledge, experience, and flexibility available to the market.
In Closing
2025 was a year of confirmation. Confirmation that specialization pays off, that quality can scale, and that sustainable relationships matter more than quick wins.
We don’t often raise the flag here, but if I’m honest, this year deserves it.
We look ahead to 2026 with confidence, knowing that databases will only become more central to organizations’ digital strategies.
Curious whether your database environment is ready for the next step? Feel free to reach out, we’re happy to think along with you.
