Developer Spotlight with Mika Borner

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From Hackathon Winner to Enterprise Leader 

Mika Borner, CEO and Founder of Datapunctum AG, has been involved with the Splunk Platform since 2006, transitioning from a customer and consultant to an app developer by 2010. His early technical work included creating custom automation for incident response, which served as a precursor to modern SOAR solutions.  

In 2014, Mika and a colleague won Splunk’s first "Apptitude App Challenge" hackathon with the initial version of Alert Manager. What started as a competitive project quickly gained traction as an open-source tool, fueled by community feedback and the growing need for better incident management. Following the project's success, he founded Datapunctum in 2019. By applying modern development processes and a fresh codebase, he transformed a successful community project into Alert Manager Enterprise, a robust solution designed for the rigors of modern IT and Security Operations. 

Elevating Splunk Workflows: From Alerts to Action 

Alert Manager Enterprise, designed for Splunk Enterprise and Cloud, was built to address a universal challenge: alert fatigue. By turning raw Splunk alerts into structured, actionable events, the platform provides workflow capabilities—such as status tracking, prioritization, and bidirectional synchronization with tools like Jira and ServiceNow—directly within the Splunk interface. For Borner, the goal is to empower IT Operations, Security Operations, and compliance teams to mitigate alert fatigue and streamline incident management entirely within the Splunk environment.  

From Pain Points to Products: A Developer’s Guide to Splunk Success 

When asked about his development process, Mika emphasizes the power of the Splunk Platform, particularly the flexibility of KVStore and the modular alerts framework.  

In his own words: “What I really like about building on Splunk is how much you already get out of the box.” 

His team at Datapunctum relies on a modern stack, including Python, TypeScript, and GitHub Actions, while leveraging AI coding assistants to accelerate prototyping and refactoring. 

For aspiring developers, Mika advises focusing on real-world pain points, engaging with the Splunk Community, and mastering the essentials. He strongly recommends a solid grasp of Python for backend logic and React for modern, responsive UI development. He also suggests beginning with open-source projects to validate ideas and gather feedback before committing to larger enterprise solutions. 

Coding on the Road: Mika’s Off-the-Grid Adventures 

When he isn't driving innovation at Datapunctum, Mika finds balance in physical activity and travel. He is an avid gym-goer and cyclist, and he enjoys spending time in his RV. He even finds time to upgrade his vehicle with solar and Starlink technology, allowing him to work off-the-grid from anywhere in the world. 

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