Just before cutting the anniversary cake: Peter Dauner and Ingo Ruhloff open the celebration of the company's 10th anniversary.

How a Shared Vision Became Ten Successful Years

On August 2, 2026, we celebrated our 10th company anniversary. When Ingo Ruhloff and Peter Dauner founded Ruhloff & Dauner GmbH in 2016, they had a clear vision. Their passion for Identity & Access Management formed the foundation from the very beginning. At the same time, they wanted the freedom to build a company according to their own values—how a company should be managed, how successful projects should be delivered, and how employees should be supported so they enjoy their work and remain part of the company for the long term.

They were convinced that satisfied employees are the foundation for successful projects, long-term customer relationships, and sustainable business success.

Today, ten years later, we look back with great gratitude on everything we have achieved together. What began as the vision of our founders has grown into one of the leading specialized IAM consulting companies in the German-speaking market. "10 YEARS OF IAM Excellence"—our anniversary motto stands for ten years of passion, innovation, and trust. It represents exciting projects, long-term customer relationships, strong partnerships, and software solutions that were created from practice for practice.

The confidence that Ingo and Peter had back then is reflected in a small story from the early days of the company: the very first office they rented was far too large for just two founders. For them, however, it was an investment in the future. They firmly believed that our team would grow—just as they believed that Identity & Access Management would become one of the most strategically important areas of IT security.

And by the way, we are still working in that very same office today.

The beginning of Ruhloff & Dauner: On July 20, 2016, Peter Dauner and Ingo Ruhloff signed the partnership agreement at the notary's office of the Göppingen District Court.

Our Greatest Success Factor: Our Employees

Looking back on the past ten years, one success factor stands above all others: our team.

Our employees are the heart of Ruhloff & Dauner. With their experience, commitment, and passion for Identity & Access Management, they have shaped our company and continue to demonstrate to our customers every day what truly matters in successful IAM projects.

At the same time, it has always been important to us to give something back to our employees for everything they do for our customers and our company. For us, appreciation is reflected not only in our daily interactions, but also in a corporate culture built on trust, flexibility, and mutual respect. Flexible working hours, the freedom to choose between working from home and the office, as well as shared events and company outings, have always been a natural part of who we are. We firmly believe that this culture is one of the main reasons why so many of our employees have remained with us for many years.

Peter Dauner about our team:

During our anniversary celebrations, I am often asked how we managed to become one of the leading IAM consulting companies in the German-speaking market. My answer is always the same: we owe it to our employees.

What makes me especially proud is that so many wonderful people have been part of our journey for many years. Our team is defined not only by its outstanding professional expertise, but above all by the people behind it. Every individual brings their own personality and often unique talents. This diversity is what makes Ruhloff & Dauner special—and it is one of the main reasons why I enjoy coming to work every single day.

The Ruhloff & Dauner team at the 2024 Christmas party at Palazzo Stuttgart.

Long-Term Customer Relationships Built on Trust

Over the past ten years, we have had the privilege of delivering numerous exciting projects together with our customers. From the very beginning, it has been important to us not to act as a traditional supplier, but as a long-term partner working alongside our customers as equals.

This mutual trust forms the foundation of our collaboration. Many of our projects span several years, allowing us to continuously develop our customers' Identity & Access Management environments together.

Long-term customer relationships create significant benefits for both sides. We often know our customers' organizations, processes, and objectives in great detail, enabling us to respond more quickly, provide better advice, and develop sustainable solutions together. At the same time, these long-standing partnerships foster a level of trust that extends far beyond individual projects.

We are particularly proud to have been supporting customers such as SV Informatik, Provinzial Versicherung, the University of Zurich, and Deutsche Rentenversicherung Baden-Württemberg for many years. For us, these long-term partnerships are the greatest confirmation of the quality of our work.

Customer relationships are equally important to Ingo. When asked why Identity & Access Management is still as exciting to him today as it was many years ago, he answered:

I have been working in IAM since 2009 and joined the field immediately after graduating from university. What continues to fascinate me is how business processes such as Joiner, Mover, and Leaver are translated into practical technical solutions—and how data is consolidated, transformed, and used in a meaningful way. What makes IAM especially exciting is that no customer environment is ever the same. Every organization has its own requirements and challenges. Planning, developing, and continuously improving these individual solutions is what makes this profession so rewarding for me.

At the moment, I am working on a project for one of Europe's largest retail companies. Besides the technical and business-related challenges, I particularly value the close collaboration with the customer's team. Since these projects often last for many years, they naturally develop into relationships built on mutual trust and, quite often, genuine friendships. Working together to create sustainable solutions is what makes this work especially meaningful to me.

Even after all these years, there is always something new to learn, new opportunities to discover, and new challenges to overcome. That is exactly why I enjoy working in IAM just as much today as I did when I first started.

Innovation Driven by Project Experience

Since the day our company was founded, we have supported countless IAM projects. Along the way, we repeatedly encountered challenges for which standard solutions alone were not the ideal answer.

This commitment has resulted in a portfolio of software solutions that strategically extend existing IAM platforms. In 2020, we acquired the R&D RoleManager, an established solution for role mining and role modeling, together with its development team, and have continuously enhanced it ever since. With the QuickIAM Access App and the AD Analyzer, we have developed two additional software solutions that extend existing IAM platforms and provide real added value for our customers. All three value-added solutions were developed by practitioners, for practitioners and continue to evolve based on the requirements of our customers.

However, innovation has never been limited to our software solutions. The continuous development of our company has always been a collaborative process. That is why we have regularly taken time to step away from day-to-day business and think strategically about the future of Ruhloff & Dauner together. During our Future@Ruhloff&Dauner workshops at Burg Staufeneck, many ideas were born that continue to shape our company today.

The Ruhloff & Dauner team during the internal Future@Ruhloff&Dauner workshop in 2019 at Burg Staufeneck.

Our workshops also led to the decision to strategically expand our product portfolio by adding One Identity alongside OpenText, followed by go:Identity from Cognitum. At the same time, new consulting approaches and ideas for internal knowledge sharing emerged. One of the outcomes is our well-established knowledge management process, through which our consultants regularly share their expertise and project experience with one another.

Our innovative mindset is reflected not only in our software solutions. Through our free guide to creating a role and permission concept, we share the knowledge gained from numerous customer projects and help organizations avoid common pitfalls when building a role model.

Together with Strong Partners

Since the day we were founded, we have relied on long-term, trusted partnerships. From the very beginning, Micro Focus—now OpenText—has been our technology partner. Over the years, additional strong partnerships have followed, first with One Identity and its IAM product portfolio and, since 2023, with Cognitum, whose Identity Governance solution go:Identity is a valuable addition to our portfolio.

Our goal has never been to represent as many software vendors as possible. Instead, we want to offer our customers the right solution for their specific requirements while supporting them with independent advice and the benefit of our many years of project experience.

In addition to our technology partnerships, we are equally proud of our close collaboration with our consulting partners. Together with ITConcepts, IBsolution, ITdesign Austria, and SKYPRO Switzerland, we deliver demanding IAM projects and combine our expertise wherever it creates the greatest value for our customers.

This spirit of partnership—built on trust, mutual appreciation, and shared goals—has become an essential part of our success.

Sharing Knowledge with the IAM Community

Identity & Access Management thrives on the exchange of knowledge and experience. That is why we have been attending the industry's leading events for many years.

What began with participating in conferences has evolved significantly over time. Today, we are not only attendees but also present our own solutions at international events, including as a Gold Sponsor of the One Identity UNITE conference with our own exhibition booth.

We also regularly attend the European Identity Conference, the OpenText Summit, as well as partner events hosted by OpenText and One Identity. The personal exchange with customers, partners, and software vendors provides valuable inspiration that directly influences the further development of our consulting services and software solutions such as the RoleManager, QuickIAM, and AD Analyzer.

For us, engaging with the IAM community is far more than networking—it is an essential part of our daily work.

The Ruhloff & Dauner team as a Gold Sponsor with its own booth at One Identity UNITE 2026 in Vienna.

Thank You for Ten Successful Years

An anniversary is always an opportunity to say thank you.

One of the highlights of our anniversary year will be our four-day trip to Italy. Together with all our employees, we want to celebrate this milestone and thank them for their daily commitment, their passion, and their loyalty to Ruhloff & Dauner. For us, this journey is far more than a company outing—it is a genuine expression of our appreciation for everything we have achieved together over the past ten years.

We would also like to sincerely thank our customers for their trust and the many successful projects we have shared over the years, as well as our technology and consulting partners for their close and reliable collaboration. Together, we have accomplished a great deal over the past decade, and we are proud of what we have achieved.

Looking Forward to the Next Ten Years

Even after ten successful years, we believe we are only at the beginning of our journey. Digital transformation continues to accelerate, bringing new challenges for Identity & Access Management. Topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Identity Security, and the secure management of both human and machine identities will become more important than ever for organizations in the years ahead.

We look forward to continuing this journey together with our employees, customers, and partners—with the same passion, curiosity, and dedication to specialization that have driven us since the day Ruhloff & Dauner was founded.