Annertech is a Drupal Certified Platinum Partner

We are pleased to announce that Annertech has been awarded platinum status in the Drupal Association’s Certified Partner programme. The promotion in the levels – up from gold – came as a result of our work on the Drupal project, in particular our contribution to LocalGov Drupal – the CMS for councils. 

“We are happy that our contributions have been recognised,” said Managing Director Stella Power. 

“We’re a small company, relatively speaking, and we are dedicated to Drupal and improving it as much as we can.”

Why is this important? 

The Drupal Association is the non-profit organisation that supports the Drupal project (an open source CMS that is built by the Drupal community, also known as Drupal supporting partners). 

The Drupal Certified Partner programme was set up in 2021 to recognise the companies that contribute to and work with Drupal. Drupal certified partners are supporting partners who meet additional criteria of contribution and provide case studies of their client work. 

A vital part of any open source project is striking a balance between those who contribute to the project and those who are purely in it for financial gain. The Drupal Organisation calls these two opposite entities Makers and Takers. The Makers are those companies or individuals who contribute to Drupal, and the Takers are those who use Drupal. 

The only way to scale and sustain an open source project is to balance Makers and Takers.  

The current Drupal.org Marketplace lists 2,283 companies that provide Drupal services. Of these companies, 591 made a contribution to Drupal in 2023 (Makers). This means that 1,692 – or 74% of companies that provide Drupal services did not make a contribution to Drupal last year (Takers). 

To drill down even more, the top 14% of contributors made 88% of total contributions in 2023. And five of the top 10 contributors in 2023 were companies with fewer than 50 employees. 

Recognising – and rewarding – Makers

“It would be fair to say that, in Drupal, the majority of the value is created by a small number of contributors. [With the enhanced Drupal certified partner programme] we hope to better recognise those organisations and grow their number,” Tim Doyle, Chief Executive Officer of the Drupal Association, wrote in a blog about the certified partner programme. 

 “In the last 90 days we supported 72 projects and had 27 issue credits, and we are motivated to increase our contribution,” said Stella. 

“We are fired up to contribute more to this platform, which has given us so much. Being motivated to contribute has a knock-on effect on Drupal itself, as more commitment and contributions increase innovation. We are proud that we are in the position where we are able to grow the amount of contributions by Annertechies, and we can’t wait to experience the next phase of Drupal as it improves and grows,” said Stella. 

Drupal has been recognised as a Digital Public Good, and it is the Drupal Association’s mission to drive innovation and adoption of Drupal. 

“Our fundamental task, day in and day out, is to ensure that Drupal is secure and available to anyone, anywhere in the world to download and use for free,” wrote Tim. 

“We are in an environment in which, without an intentional focus on innovation and a commitment to getting the word out about the benefits of Drupal, open source projects risk withering, and organisations with far larger budgets and profit incentives will oversell proprietary solutions that unnecessarily trap users data and raise the cost basis of accessing the internet. Both are contrary to an open and inclusive web.” 

The new Drupal Certified Partner requirements will go into effect from 1 April this year.