Internal Audits
Why undertake an Internal Audit?
In today’s information-driven business environment, organisations must continually evaluate their ability to protect information assets. This includes not only security protocols and development processes but also continued availability of information to authorised parties. The purpose of an IT audit is to determine how effectively an organisation is maintaining these protocols and to provide direction on how to improve. Effective IT audit services help organisations not only improve internal controls and security but also achieve their IT goals and objectives.
Audits have been a long-standing management tool for corporate governance that is increasingly recognised as critical to the smooth and secure operations of IT systems and technology management.
The results of IT Audits need not be restricted to IT governance activities; it is considered vital in corporate risk mitigation for organisations to undertake regular external IT Audit projects to ensure that both board and executive supervision of technology activities are taken seriously.
It is generally considered best practice to undertake periodic external reviews of IT to consider efficiency, costs, service levels, risk profile and business alignment. These may take the form of a broad IT Review, or specific compliance audit activities.
Why MIST ?
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 MIST Consulting 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:
- General IT Review and Audit
- IT Operations Review and Audit
- External Service Provider Audit
- IT Infrastructure and Application Portfolio Review
- IT Governance and compliance Audit
- IT Risk Audit
- Business/IT alignment Audit
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 and resourcing levels
- Cyber Resilience & Information Security
- Process maturity and Technology Innovation
- Documentation
- Software licensing and hardware lifecycle management
- Helpdesk service levels
- Project benefit realization
- Technology and operational efficiency
- Infrastructure performance & vulnerabilities
- Proactive and Preventative maintenance
- Recoverability and Data integrity
- Failure point identification
- Governance effectiveness
- Policy compliance
- Security risks
- Financial & budget management issues
- Operational risk & sustainability
MIST 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 MIST Integration.
Our experience and understanding of IT auditing and innovative technology capabilities 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
