Why perform an IT audit?

Posted on December 30 2021

Reading time: 6 minutes

Companies are more and more dependent on their IT systems. The reliability and performance of the network are two aspects that should not be neglected. The IT audit is a good way to evaluate the efficiency of the system and avoid bad surprises.

What is an IT Audit?

What is an IT audit?

The IT audit allows us to make an inventory of the company’s IT asset. By mapping the structure of the computer system, we can verify compliance with laws, the reliability of financial information, and the optimization of operations

A thorough assessment and audit of the structure can reveal flaws in the computer system and provide recommendations to ensure the system is functioning properly.

The IT audit allows you to make a complete inventory of your IT infrastructure to ensure that it is complete, reliable and up-to-date.

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What are the different types of audit?

There are several types of IT audits that will provide you with diagnostics. This information will help you make better decisions for your business. You are free to do only one audit or to do them all! Here are the main types of IT audits:

The use of tools like Excel may be appropriate when the inventory to be managed is small, but it is not efficient enough to manage medium and large inventories.

The use of inappropriate computer tools to manage an inventory increases the risk of error. Manual data entry is a long and complex task that can create inventory errors. Also, the use of Excel does not allow to be as precise as a software.

Audit of the IT structure

The IS audit of the IT infrastructure makes it possible to identify the causes of slowdowns or malfunctions in the system that affect the productivity of your employees and your service level.

The analysis of the data storage, the software hosting and the link between the software will allow to find a solution to improve the efficiency of your tools progressively.

The security audit

The information security audit evaluates the threats and indicates the level of vulnerability of the company. This assessment allows you to validate that the measures put in place in your organization are effective. Once you know the potential vulnerabilities, you can adjust your system to avoid attacks and the loss of your data.

Data management audit

Every company collects a large amount of personal data. The data management audit allows to improve the reliability of the collected data and to verify the tools put in place to manage the data.

The data management audit also helps you with law enforcement, such as the GDPR in the European Union. Indeed, since May 25, 2018, the European Union has adopted the General Data Protection Regulation, which imposes detailed requirements on companies and organizations regarding the collection, retention and management of personal data.

How to perform an IT audit?

Why perform an IT audit?

You can perform an IT audit in-house, but this can be a time-consuming process. The main advantage of this choice is that it will cost you less.

By using a specialized external IT auditor, you will get a neutral opinion on the state of your system. You will also get an outside opinion on how you should organize your IT department.

  1. Establish the needs
    Take stock of the information you wish to obtain
    Choose the type of audit
  2. Planning
    Decide whether you are doing it internally or contracting an external firm.
    Target the people involved in the audit
  3. Gathering facts and conducting tests
    Survey of the computer equipment: photography of the existing architecture, cabling, active hardware, servers, workstations and printers.
    Meeting with users: taking into consideration complaints about the problems observed.
    Research of the origin of the announced dysfunctions and those hidden
  4. Data analysis and report writing
    Synthesis of the elements collected
    Evaluate the consequences of dysfunctions and the gains if corrections are made
    Establish the evolutions to be foreseen and establish the costs
  5. Presentation and discussion of the report
    Presentation of analyses and proposed solutions
    Decision making on the next steps

Why do an IT audit?

The audit of a computer park is not mandatory, but it is strongly recommended.
This operation allows to avoid several problems and to improve the computer security of your company.

It is an excellent way to become aware of its strengths and weaknesses in order to improve the productivity of the company. The IT audit allows you to track software licenses in order to be compliant in case of an IT software audit.

The audit is the perfect opportunity to ensure that standards are being met. If you want to get ISO 27001 certification to be recognized as a company that offers a secure service, the IT audit is a great way to start.

There are many benefits to performing an IT audit for your company:

  • Make better strategic decisions
  • Evaluate the performance of its information system and tools
  • Implementing good practices
  • Compliance of your infrastructure

You will be able to determine the problems and establish a priority list of future evolutions to be carried out on your computer park to ensure the performance of your company.

Hector can help you!

It may be appropriate to use an Hardware Inventory Management Software like Hector to keep track of your equipment. Your data will also be kept secure.

Since your information will be kept up to date and will all be in one place, you will be ready to perform an IT audit easily. Our reporting module allows you to generate relevant and detailed analyses quickly.

Try Hector now!