25 Years of andagon & aqua: Celebrating Quality, Innovation and Partnership

We celebrated 25 years of andagon with customers and partners, exploring AI, software testing and the power of collaboration through Maestro Leadership.

1 October 2026 was more than the date of our customer event. It marked exactly 25 years since andagon was founded on 1 October 2001.

We celebrated this milestone together with customers, partners and colleagues. 25 customers joined us for a day that combined a look back at what we have built together with an equally important question: What comes next?

The conversations reflected how much our industry continues to change. AI is creating new possibilities in software testing. Test automation continues to evolve. Digital accessibility, sustainable IT and IT security are becoming increasingly relevant to quality strategies. Yet one factor remains essential across all these developments: people who know how to bring technology, expertise and different perspectives together.

That idea accompanied us throughout the day and became particularly tangible during one of its highlights: Maestro Leadership with a professional orchestra.

25 years of andagon: Celebrating the relationships behind the milestone

Our 25th anniversary was not only an opportunity to look back. It was a chance to celebrate the relationships that have developed over 25 years and look ahead together.

What made the anniversary particularly meaningful was the opportunity to celebrate it with customers and partners, including people and companies who have accompanied us for many years. Those relationships gave the anniversary its significance. Technologies, tools and methodologies have changed considerably over 25 years. The value of open exchange, mutual trust and a shared commitment to software quality has not.

Looking ahead: The topics shaping quality assurance

Rather than spending the anniversary primarily looking at the past, we created space to explore the questions our customers and teams are working on today.

Our thematic experience stands gave guests the opportunity to explore six areas:

• Green IT: How can sustainability become part of technology and software decisions?
• Digital Accessibility: How can organizations make digital products accessible to more people and address accessibility systematically?
• andagon Academy: How can teams continuously develop the skills they need as technologies and quality requirements evolve?
• aqua: What new possibilities are emerging around test management and the further development of aqua?
• AI and Test Automation: Where can artificial intelligence already provide practical support in software testing, and where does human expertise remain indispensable?
• IT Security: Together with one of our partners, we explored the growing connection between software quality and security.

The stands were deliberately designed for interaction. Instead of moving from one presentation to the next, guests could speak directly with our experts, ask questions and connect each topic with challenges in their own organizations.

From presentations to conversations: Making room for real exchange

Some of the most valuable moments of the anniversary happened outside the formal program.

Throughout the event, customers, partners and colleagues had time to reconnect, compare experiences and discuss current and future projects. The event created space for conversations that went beyond individual technologies or services.

One topic generated particularly strong interest: AI and its role in software testing. The discussion has already moved beyond whether AI will influence quality assurance. The more practical questions are where it can create measurable value, which problems it can solve and what teams need to use it effectively.

AI in software testing: Technology needs direction

AI can already support practical testing activities, but access to AI alone does not improve software quality. Teams still need to define the problem, provide the right context and critically evaluate the results.

AI can help teams draft test cases, analyze defects, identify potential testing gaps and prioritize tests according to risk. The starting point, however, should not be “Where can we use AI?” It should be a concrete testing problem.

Development, quality assurance and business stakeholders need to agree on the problem they want to solve and how success will be measured. AI then becomes a tool for achieving a defined objective rather than an objective in itself.

What an orchestra taught us about leadership, collaboration and AI

The emotional highlight of the day turned leadership and collaboration into something our guests could see and hear. Maestro Leadership brought the principles we had discussed throughout the day into an entirely different setting: a professional orchestra.

Maestro Leadership was a collaboration between Yana Gogoll, CEO of andagon, and conductor Alexander Yakoniuk. Together with the orchestra, they explored how leadership, communication, timing, trust and presence affect the performance of a group.

One observation captured the idea particularly well:

“You can lose the orchestra before you have conducted a single note.” — Alexander Yakoniuk

Musicians respond to more than instructions. They respond to clarity, timing and presence. A conductor brings different instruments and individual voices together without playing those instruments personally. And that is where the connection to our discussions about AI and testing became apparent.

Different strengths need a common direction

Software quality is also a collective result. Developers, testers, business stakeholders, automation tools and increasingly AI contribute different capabilities. Simply adding another capability does not guarantee a better outcome.

AI may help generate test cases. It may support defect analysis or help teams focus testing on areas with higher risk. But just as an orchestra does not improve merely by adding another instrument, a testing process does not improve simply because AI has been added to it.

The crucial questions remain: What are we trying to achieve? And how do the different participants work toward the same definition of quality?

Human expertise therefore does not become less important as AI capabilities increase. Its role shifts toward providing context, defining objectives, assessing results and deciding where technology can create genuine value.

25 years behind us. Many ideas ahead.

Our anniversary brought together many of the elements that have shaped andagon over 25 years: software quality, technological change, customer relationships, curiosity and collaboration. But what made the day memorable was not simply the opportunity to look back. It was seeing long-standing customers and partners reconnect. It was the interest and discussions around the experience stands. It was the questions about AI, test automation and future projects. And it was an orchestra demonstrating, in a way no presentation could, how much a shared result depends on trust, clarity and collaboration.

Watch the highlights from our 25th anniversary customer event

Twenty-five years are a reason to celebrate. More importantly, they are a reminder that lasting quality is built through people, trust, curiosity and a willingness to keep evolving.

Thank you to our customers, partners and colleagues who have been part of this journey and to everyone who celebrated with us.

We look forward to the conversations, ideas and challenges that come next.