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Featured Articles
What is data affairs, and why haven’t I heard of it before?
Data affairs is the totality of how your data is being conducted across your business: commercially, legally, operationally, and strategically.
Friday Initiatives Named in Entrepreneur UK's 100 UK Startups to Watch
Data governance isn't always the sexiest topic in tech, but it's one of the most important. So Lauren and I are really pleased to share that Friday Initiatives has been featured by Entrepreneur UK in its 100 UK Startups to Watch. It's a milestone that means a lot to us. Not because we set out to win awards, but because it validates something we've believed since day one: that data governance, done properly, is one of the most commercially valuable things a business can invest
Smart Data is coming. The boring bits will decide if it works.
Smart Data is about to have a moment in the UK — and it could reshape how people buy, switch, compare and access services across whole sectors. In plain English, Smart Data means giving people (and small businesses) a secure, consent-based way to share their data with trusted third parties, so they can get better deals, more personalised products, and less annoying admin. It’s the infrastructure behind things like switching providers in a few clicks, getting smarter mortgage
Interview with a CTO: Loïc Berthou in the spotlight
What happens when a CTO starts with zero legacy code, no red tape, and no 12-month IT queue? If you’re Loïc Berthou, CTO of Qlarifi , the world’s first Buy Now Pay Later credit bureau, you build a real-time data platform from scratch and still find time to debate whether using ChatGPT counts as cheating. In the below interview, Loïc talks us through the realities of building tech without baggage; how his role has shifted from solo coder to strategic operator; why clean infras
Risks You Can’t Ignore When Choosing An AI Model
With so many AI models available, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, DeepSeek, and others, choosing the right one isn’t just about features, it’s about risk. The model you select can have significant implications for data privacy, security, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property protection. No matter what you’re using AI for, understanding these risks is essential to making an informed decision. In the below, we look at the privacy and security, intellectual property, acc
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IT Brew Feature: Data pros share their non-negotiable governance standards. And how to enforce them.
Friday's CEO Lauren Murphy was featured in the below IT Brew article discussing why governance should be embedded and automated. Article in full: How is maintaining data standards like listening to a server recite the specials at a fancy restaurant? Sometimes you get more information than you need. That happens in Kyle McCluskey’s line of work as a lead AI solutions engineer at business-strategy partner TXI. Recently, McCluskey helped a railcar leasing company comb through a
Jul 84 min read
Governance is a growth strategy (and it’s not just us that says it.. Thanks Mills Review!)
At Friday, we've spent years arguing an unpopular point: that data governance, done properly, is not the thing that slows a business down. It's the thing that lets you and your business move faster. For most of that time it's been a lonely argument. Governance has always been cast as the brake, the cost centre between a good idea and the market, the department that says no. You know the dance. The FCA's new Mills Review, their 147-page look at AI and the future of retail fina
Jul 73 min read
TechRound Feature: Are Businesses Paying For The Same AI Features Multiple Times?
Friday's CEO Lauren Murphy was featured in the below TechRound article discussing a challenge we're seeing more and more often: businesses paying multiple times for the same AI capability. Article in full: After looking at how businesses have been testing AI and slowly moving into the next phase after the “testing” era of the technology, a different issue has since come to mind. A typical AI stack now costs $1,236 per employee every year, according to Lorka AI. Writing tools,
Jun 224 min read
June: Who doesn’t love breakfast?
We’ve had the full spectrum of weather recently here in London, and we’re basically British now so we’re prepared to talk ad nauseum about it. Only joking, what we’re really talking about is our first ever Friday Breakfast Club. Just 10 or so like minded folk who are excited by data and want to hear one of the OGs, Charlie Green, founder of RFI Global, talk about how to build a very successful business, and what he'd do differently in hindsight. If you’re in London on the 26t
Jun 126 min read
What is data affairs, and why haven’t I heard of it before?
Data affairs is the totality of how your data is being conducted across your business: commercially, legally, operationally, and strategically.
Jun 112 min read
May: We turned two, we're still here and we love data
We have a new website. We know it's only exciting for us, and maybe Alex our graphic designer, but we love it and that’s enough. If you’re feeling curious, have a look here www.fridayinitiatives.com (or as you're reading this, you're on it and hopefully like it - congrats!) For our London-based Fri-Up readers, we're hosting our first ever Friday Breakfast Club in Late June. Charlie Green (founder of RFI) is joining us to share how he built one of the smartest data positions i
May 126 min read
April: What AI audits, frigates and the Bank of England have in common
For those of us who are UK based, we’re finally celebrating sitting outside with just a jumper. It’s been a long winter, although we suspect we say that every year. Some of us, Emma, actually had the opportunity to double down and spend Easter in Tallinn. She swam in the Baltic, and yes, it was literally baltic at 0.8 degrees. Lauren made a smarter choice spending the recent long weekend eating pasta in sunny Rome. But enough about our trips abroad. We’ve also been working h
Apr 286 min read
The Perimeter is Dead: Why Claude Mythos Forces a Shift to Data Visibility
US Homeland Security is reportedly calling bank bosses in to discuss Claude Mythos. Let that land for a second. This is not a breach. It is not an incident. It is a capability. The conversation is shifting rapidly from how we keep attackers out, to what happens when something intelligent gets in. Cybersecurity has spent decades perfecting the perimeter. We have built massive industries around endpoints, identity verification, and fencing. But the arrival of Anthropic's Claude
Apr 152 min read
Friday Initiatives Named in Entrepreneur UK's 100 UK Startups to Watch
Data governance isn't always the sexiest topic in tech, but it's one of the most important. So Lauren and I are really pleased to share that Friday Initiatives has been featured by Entrepreneur UK in its 100 UK Startups to Watch. It's a milestone that means a lot to us. Not because we set out to win awards, but because it validates something we've believed since day one: that data governance, done properly, is one of the most commercially valuable things a business can invest
Apr 72 min read
March: We’re officially famous, but also humbled
Could 2026 just chill out already? It’s not just us right? But my goodness, it’s been a flying start to the year. Literally for some Friday team members. A certain co-founder (Emma) has finally returned back from her trip to Singapore and Australia. She also attended Sydney’s first AI agents club, and in a total plot twist, she loved it. John, and his very friendly pals, are hosting a second event next week . If you’re based in Sydney and have an interest in AI agents, go alo
Apr 77 min read
February 2026: So this year is off to quite the start
I’m not sure if you’ve been reading the news, but it’s been a wild few weeks. We, like the entire internet, fell down the Clawdbot rabbit hole before deciding that just maybe, the safeguards we would need to protect the value of our data (and privacy) might mean it isn’t worth it. The Winter Olympics are on ( did you see that backflip on ice skates? ), and the Beckham drama caused a lot of debate (#TeamVictoria). Plus, we’ve finally converted Geordie (our AI superstar) to C
Apr 78 min read
January: Time flies when you’re governing data
When we were little we used to wonder why our parents were always going on about the new year sneaking up on them. Now, we understand. Somehow we have one foot in 2024 and another in 2026. But we’re glad to be back and in the office. Is it weird to dream about having two screens? Asking for a friend.. Lots happened last year, and even more is on the horizon for Team Friday in 2026. We turn two and we’re hitting our toddler years in style. We are continuing to work with some a
Apr 710 min read
Data sharing is infrastructure, not compliance
Data portability is having a policy moment. Across the UK, Australia, the EU and Singapore, governments are converging on a familiar promise: make data portable, standardised, and usable so markets become easier to compare, easier to switch, and easier to innovate in. But portability is often the wrong frame. Portability is a mechanism. What governments are actually trying to build is a governed data-sharing capability: standardised meaning, trusted access, clear accountabili
Jan 163 min read
Smart Data is coming. The boring bits will decide if it works.
Smart Data is about to have a moment in the UK — and it could reshape how people buy, switch, compare and access services across whole sectors. In plain English, Smart Data means giving people (and small businesses) a secure, consent-based way to share their data with trusted third parties, so they can get better deals, more personalised products, and less annoying admin. It’s the infrastructure behind things like switching providers in a few clicks, getting smarter mortgage
Jan 53 min read
Making payroll data work harder: A conversation with Teal's CEO, Michael Hart
At Friday, we’re lucky enough to work with some of the most exciting data-driven companies around — and Teal is one of them. For those...
Oct 13, 20253 min read
Why rewriting your website should be an existential crisis
I was speaking to a client recently who’s in the middle of rewriting his website. Like many businesses, he was getting stuck in the...
Aug 26, 20253 min read
Why Every Organisation Struggles with Structuring IT and Data Teams - and What to Do About It
It doesn’t matter whether your organisation has 50 staff or 5,000 - almost every leadership team we’ve worked with wrestles with the same...
Jun 14, 20257 min read
Interview with a CTO: Loïc Berthou in the spotlight
What happens when a CTO starts with zero legacy code, no red tape, and no 12-month IT queue? If you’re Loïc Berthou, CTO of Qlarifi , the world’s first Buy Now Pay Later credit bureau, you build a real-time data platform from scratch and still find time to debate whether using ChatGPT counts as cheating. In the below interview, Loïc talks us through the realities of building tech without baggage; how his role has shifted from solo coder to strategic operator; why clean infras
Jun 12, 20254 min read
The true cost of a data breach: the hidden price tag of doing nothing
Given 1 in 3 organisations are involved in a data breach each year, why is it that we still think it's never going to happen to us? Too...
May 16, 20253 min read
Partner Spotlight: how Castlepoint is helping organisations govern without disruption
We’re fortunate to work with some truly extraordinary people and partners, one of them is Castlepoint . If you’re subscribed to the...
Apr 14, 20253 min read
Insights
Hot takes, smart thinking and The Fri-Up (our very cool and interesting monthly newsletter). Plus everything we're writing about governance, AI regulation and what your data's actually worth.
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