The world is going more digital every day! While this may be beautiful to experience, it also has its downsides, like an increase in cybercrime and dangerous activities like phishing attacks.
These attacks don’t affect only big businesses with highly complex software architecture. In fact, according to a 2019 report, 43% of cyber-attacks target small businesses!
So, how do companies vaccinate their systems against digital risks and attacks? How do they evaluate the alignment of the software infrastructure with their business goals? It’s simple. Through an IT audit!
IT Audit Function
IT auditing is the critical examination of the entire software infrastructure, business applications, policies, and operations. The main aim of every IT audit is to determine if the information systems and IT controls are:
- Maintaining data integrity
- Safeguarding corporate assets
- In alignment with the company’s business goals
The IT audit history is a long one that has been subjected to many changes since its inception in the mid-1960s. But what hasn’t changed are its goals and the numerous ways it can help any business — whether large or small.
IT Audit Benefits For Your Business
Here are a few critical ways an IT audit can benefit your business:
1. Finding risks:
The most important function of an IT audit, perhaps, is to help critically access the software infrastructure of IT-based firms and identify possible risks to their data or network. They help to access the integrity of the company data, how confidential these data really are, how effective the IT structure is, if it achieves the aims it was designed for, and how well it does it.
In the end, the firm has a clear view of the problems that affect its systems. From there, it becomes easy to prevent such risks and work up solutions.
2. Compliance:
Another important IT audit function is to evaluate how compliant the company is with the statutory requirements in their industry. When a firm doesn’t meet up with the obligations demanded of it, it stands the risk of damaging its reputation, scaring off investors and customers, and incurring erroneous financial losses due to heavy fines.
This is one of the risks an IT audit can help prevent. Firms can easily realize that their company hasn’t met up with industry standards in some particular areas and make the necessary adjustments.
3. Identifying and preventing fraud:
Workplace fraud is a commonplace crime that EVERY business is prone to. It doesn’t matter how careful you think you are! Some company frauds can go on for years without anyone’s knowledge and even lead to huge losses for the company.
Constant IT audit can help shine the flashlight on any ongoing foul-play in your company’s data, identify possible patterns and avenues for fraud, and even suggest ways to solve such problems.
4. Improving systems:
Another importance of IT audit is that it helps to suggest ways a company’s systems and infrastructure can be better managed and improved upon. This is because an IT audit takes a critical and objective view of these systems, identifies weaknesses in them, puts them to the test, and tries to find ways they can be improved on.
In this way, systems like internal controls, communication between business and IT departments, software infrastructure, accounting practices, and governance can be significantly improved through the IT audit process.
5. Improving credibility:
Due to the not-so-rare examples of companies forging reports on the effectiveness of their IT products to impress investors and customers, there can be doubts as to the authenticity of a company’s reports. An IT audit can serve as proof that your IT products and systems work as well as you say they do.
In conclusion, implementing constant audits is an essential process any modern business should take note of. The benefits it promises vastly overrides whatever minor inconvenience in costs and time the IT audit might cause.
Reach out to us here, at Tezza business solutions ltd, to request an IT audit for your business ASAP!