When BonCode’s co-founders first gathered to name their newly-formed software quality consultancy, they didn’t have a branding agency, a naming workshop, or AI tools. Instead, CEO Jan Willem Klerkx recalls a discussion in his garden: What name could genuinely represent the founders’ passion for software quality?
Explaining the meaning of ‘BonCode’
Inspiration came unexpectedly, sparked by the Mercedes-Benz slogan ‘The best or nothing’. As Jan Willem explains, “Two of us happened to drive Mercedes at the time. Their tag line Best Or Nothing (acronym BON) resonated deeply with our mindset. We want to help our customers to get the best code possible.”
The founders multilingual backgrounds led to surprising connections. In French, bon means ‘good’. It has positive connotations, as a word for something sound, solid, or high quality. But there was an even stronger link for the Dutch co-founders.
In Dutch, the word for ‘source code’ is bron code. If you drop the ‘r’ you get Boncode or ‘good code’. That ties directly to the company’s mission: helping management govern their business critical operations by surfacing fact-based insights into the quality and related risks of their custom-built software. The name is naturally aligned with a set of core values: positivity, craftsmanship, and an uncompromising commitment to quality.
Even today, the team really appreciates how neatly the pieces fit together. Jan Willem says, “It all came together in under 5 minutes. It relates to what we do, it relates to quality, and it relates to our culture.”
What ‘best’ really means in terms of software
If ‘bon’ represents ‘good’ code, the capital B hints at something more ambitious – ‘Best’. But what does having ‘the best code’ truly mean?
‘Best’ isn’t universal. Some people think the best software is the cheapest. Others think it means the fastest performer, or the most usable, or the most secure, or the most maintainable. It depends entirely on context.
That context-specific thinking is at the core of BonCode’s consultancy model. Rather than selling a predefined solution or pushing a particular technology, the team helps organizations define what best should mean for their unique ecosystem, their strategy, their constraints, and their long-term goals.
Companies often need help with considering what they truly expect from their software portfolios. BonCode can help them answer that question. What’s best for one customer may not be the best for another. That’s why BonCode is a consultancy and not a vendor.
Discover what ‘best’ means for your business
Whether your priority is adaptability, longevity, performance, maintainability, or cost, there is no one-size-fits-all definition of ‘good’ software.
BonCode exists to help organizations uncover what their version of ‘best’ looks like and measure their software quality accordingly.
Want to understand what ‘best’ means for your systems? Explore how BonCode’s experts can help bring clarity, confidence, and quality to your software portfolio.
