Why undertake an Audit?

Audit is a long standing management tool for corporate governance that is increasingly recognised to be of equal value for technology management.

The results of IT Audit need not be restricted to IT governance activity; it is considered vital in corporate risk mitigation for organisations to undertake regular external IT Audit projects to ensure that executive supervision of technology activities are taken seriously.

It is generally considered best practice to undertake periodic external reviews of IT to consider efficency, costs, service levels, risk profile and business alignment. These may take the form of a broad IT Review, or specific compliance audit activities.

Why Key Bais Consultancy

Using generalist auditors for specific IT audits will not generate optimal results as the generalist auditors lack real world experience and often recommend best practice approaches that without contextual understanding, fail in implementation. All of the Key Bais Consultancy audit products are focused on providing the required oversight to the organisations executive, but also provide truly actionable advice to IT on how to improve their service levels to the business.

These core products include:

• IT Operations Audit
• External Service Provider Operations Audit
• IT Infrastructure Audit
• IT Governance and compliance Audit
• IT Risk Audit
• Business/IT alignment Audit
• Internal Audit function Technology SME

Each of these Audits provide a management report that identifies any areas of concern, considers industry benchmarks and make recommendations in terms of “Actionable Advice” on how measurable improvements can be made. The focus of each audit is tailored to suit our client’s individual needs or concerns, common areas of concern include:

• IT skills
• Process maturity
• Documentation
• Software licensing and hardware lifecycle management
• Project benefit realization
• Technology and operational efficiency
• Infrastructure performance and vulnerabilities
• Proactive and Preventative maintenance
• Recoverability and Data integrity
• Failure point identification
• Governance effectiveness
• Policy compliance
• Security risks
• Financial and budget management issues
• Operational risk and sustainability

Key Bais Consultancy utilizes a formal IT Audit methodology that applies its specific Technology to Business alignment focus to the traditional IT Audit governance process. While the traditional approach simply looks for compliance against control measures, we take a broader view of the efficiency and effectiveness of these controls in ensuring alignment between business and IT goals. If you outsource your IT capabilities, or manage your own IT department it is good business practice to regularly undertake IT Audit processes using an independent 3rd party such as Key Bais Consultancy.

Our experience and understanding of IT auditing provides us with the knowledge needed to help you maintain confidence in your IT Audit Planning and Processes. Services can range from a short review and planning exercise though to the development, planning and execution of a multi-year audit plan.