Drupal, By Design: The drunomics Model for Sustainable Open Source

drunomics is widely recognized as Austria’s foremost Drupal agency, specializing in high-performance web development using decoupled architectures and open-source technology. The company has built its reputation not only on technical expertise but also through its deep-rooted commitment to the Drupal community.

Recently, Wolfgang Ziegler, Managing Partner and CTO of drunomics, spoke with The DropTimes' former sub-editor Thomas Alias about the agency’s open-source strategy, its role in the Drupal ecosystem, and the challenges and motivations that shape its contributions. The DropTimes thanks Sinduri Guntupalli for her dedication and support in making this conversation happen.

Strategic Support for Drupal

Since its founding, drunomics has supported Drupal not only through code contributions but through a broader strategic approach. The agency is a Gold-level Drupal Certified Partner, making regular financial contributions to the Drupal Association. This status supports the long-term infrastructure and sustainability of Drupal.

"With Drupal being the core of our business, the success of Drupal is essential to the success of drunomics," 

says Wolfgang.

The company’s commitment extends to event sponsorship and organization. It has sponsored DrupalCon Europe for four consecutive years and contributed to DrupalCon North America. drunomics also supports local events such as the International Splash Awards and a range of Drupal Camps across Europe. Employees are encouraged to participate in these initiatives, with both time and financial support provided for organizing and presenting at events.

Beyond sponsorship, drunomics plays a key role in community leadership. Team members serve on DrupalCon track teams and local Drupal associations. This includes Wolfgang Zeigler, co-founder and former Deputy Chairman of Drupal Austria; Jeremy Chinquist, long-time Treasurer and recently elected Deputy Chairman; and Sinduri Guntupalli, who joined the leadership team in 2025 as Marketing Manager.

The agency also promotes Drupal across other open-source communities, including the Nuxt.js ecosystem, broadening Drupal's visibility and adoption in the DACH region and beyond.

Navigating Open Source Challenges

drunomics has faced common challenges when contributing to open-source projects, particularly around client expectations.

“While fixing problems upstream is ingrained in our company DNA, developing new client-requested features as open-source is more challenging,” 

says Wolfgang. Clients are often focused on short-term outcomes, which makes it difficult to justify the time needed to generalize solutions for broader community use.

To address this, drunomics developed its own in-house distribution: Lupus Decoupled Drupal. This platform allowed the agency to standardize features with community contribution in mind. The result is a system that aligns client work with Drupal contributions, creating consistency and long-term value for both the community and drunomics’ clients. Stay tuned for a detailed interview with Wolfgang Ziegler soon to be published on TDT.

Aligning Business and Community Goals

For drunomics, open-source contributions are not separate from business strategy.

“We align our open-source contributions with our business goals, as demonstrated with Lupus Decoupled Drupal,” 

explains Wolfgang Ziegler.

Since all of their client sites are built using this platform, improvements directly benefit clients while also contributing back to the community. This approach reinforces the notion that open-source participation can enhance commercial offerings rather than conflict with them.

Active Engagement in the Community

drunomics fosters active participation in Drupal events at both local and international levels. Locally, the company maintains involvement through Drupal Austria, hosting and attending meetups throughout the country.

Internationally, drunomics is deeply involved in organizing major events. Jeremy Chinquist has served as Chair Co-Lead for the DrupalCon Track team for two consecutive years and is currently organizing the International Splash Awards. Sinduri Guntupalli has supported events including Mountain Camp, Dev Days 2024, and Camp Berlin 2024.

Team members regularly share knowledge at DrupalCons and Camps. Presenters include Wolfgang Zeigler, Jeremy Chinquist, Liopold D Novelli, Matic, Roderik Muit, and Petar Bašić. This level of engagement underscores the company’s belief that Drupal’s strength lies in its community, and that active participation fuels both innovation and team development.

Internal Culture of Contribution

Contributions to Drupal are embedded into drunomics’ daily operations. Developers are assigned responsibility for maintaining specific modules and are encouraged to fix bugs and improve functionality in collaboration with the community.

The company also allocates time for employees to engage in non-code contributions such as event organization and association support. Each employee is sponsored to attend at least one Drupal event annually, with additional backing available for those pursuing deeper involvement.

drunomics stands out not just for its technical execution in Drupal development but for its integrated approach to open-source engagement. By aligning business objectives with community contributions, investing in leadership roles, and fostering a culture of participation, the company exemplifies a sustainable model for agency-driven support of the Drupal ecosystem.