The term has been in my LinkedIn headline for a while now. But what do I actually mean by an ethical data firm?
For many people, summer is a time for reflection, a moment to take a step back. For me, this was even more true than usual this year. In August 2024, I broke my ankle. The year that followed was one of physical recovery, but also of personal transformation.
During the many walks I took as part of my rehabilitation, I often found myself wondering: how is it that at i-spark we have such a clear internal culture, yet externally it sometimes feels complex to put into words? We’ve always been deeply people-focused. But nearly every company claims that. So what makes us genuinely able to say it? What exactly sets us apart?
This summer, I believe I found the missing piece of that puzzle.
What’s been part of i-spark’s DNA for years, something we’ve always felt internally, I’ve now defined explicitly: an ethical framework. An attempt to capture the essence of what we believe in.
It’s built on three pillars:
The philosophical – the moral convictions that guide our choices: integrity, transparency, and responsibility.
The human – how we treat each other, our clients, and our work: harmony, empathy, and physical & mental well-being.
The practical – how we make decisions day to day: craftsmanship, commitment, and reliability.
These three pillars are broad and not tied specifically to data or AI. Even if we were running a bicycle factory, our principles would likely be the same.
Given our work in data and AI, I’ve expanded the framework to include three themes I believe are central to ethical and responsible practice in our field:
– RSG (Risk, Security, Governance) in the broadest sense
– Data quality and integrity
– AI reality: working solutions without the hype
In the coming months, my colleagues and I will be sharing more about what these values and themes mean to us in practice, as a way of inviting reflection and dialogue.
If it resonates, inspires, or simply feels familiar to you, then it is already serving its purpose. 🌟
My new role as Data Product Lead
10 December 2025
I’ve been a (marketing) data analyst since 2003, after working in IT for about five years. For the first few years of my data career, the focus was on marketing data, then it broadened, but
