About Qala

A practice built on a specific gap

David Scott Turner spent the first part of his career building data pipelines and analytics infrastructure for mid-market companies in the UK and Germany. An inflection point arrived during a supervisory authority audit — the data pipelines he had designed were well-engineered, well-tested, and entirely invisible to the DPO. They processed personal data in ways nobody had documented, at volumes no ROPA reflected.

That structural gap — between what data infrastructure actually does and what compliance documentation says it does — is the problem Qala exists to close. Most organisations have either a capable data team or a capable compliance programme. The two rarely share a common evidence base. Without data lineage, a ROPA is a narrative. Without schema monitoring, a DPIA can be outdated within weeks of filing.

David relocated to Zurich in 2022 and has been advising DACH-region companies on data programme design and regulatory compliance since the revised nDSG (FADP) came into force in September 2023. Switzerland occupies a particular position: a jurisdiction with its own, distinct data protection law that most EU-focused consultancies advise on incompletely. For CH-domiciled companies — or companies with significant Swiss operations — that gap carries real supervisory risk.

Qala is an independent advisory practice. Not a platform, not a managed service, not an investor-backed business with a growth mandate. The practice does not sell software, does not take referral fees from tooling vendors, and does not subcontract work to junior staff. Every engagement is led by an adviser with direct regulatory and engineering experience. We are not the right fit for every compliance need. We are the right fit when the problem is at the intersection.