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With the evolving technologies, it becomes essential to assess the effectiveness, security, compliance, and accessibility of IT systems. That’s when an IT audit comes into play. In this article, we’ll explore the signs that indicate that your business may need it.
What is an IT audit
An IT audit is a structured evaluation of the alignment of your company with legal regulations, business objectives, and industry standards. It can be conducted by the experts from your in-house team or outsourced from the software development company.
During their work, auditors review the company’s objectives, strategy, and processes. Then, they gather information, perform risk assessments, test and evaluate, and make recommendations. They also document their findings and report to stakeholders.
Six signs that your business needs IT audit
Despite IT audits offering apparent benefits to businesses, many companies overlook them. However, there are six clear signs that a business should perform an IT audit in the near future.
Rapid growth
As your business expands, your IT infrastructure must be scalable enough to meet the increasing demands. Otherwise, performance bottlenecks and system vulnerabilities will occur, such as a significant drop in performance during peak operation times and difficulties adding new users or data storage.
An IT audit can assess the scalability and resilience of your IT architecture and the quality of your code. The architecture investigation evaluates the various components of your system, including databases, services, and integrations, to determine their interoperability. Moreover, it can assess the flexibility of the whole software ecosystem and its ability to handle high loads effectively, as sudden system crashes not only lead to missed customer opportunities but also create a poor brand impression.
Software code inspection detects bugs and issues that may arise in the future, identifies technologies that are no longer efficient, and provides recommendations on improving the code. Its evaluation is vital, as code quality directly impacts how easily you can scale and maintain your IT infrastructure, saving you money in the long run. In addition, studies have shown that 72% of security vulnerabilities are caused by flaws in web application coding.
Security breaches or data loss
Businesses that handle sensitive information must implement robust security measures, as security breaches and data loss incidents can provoke financial losses, reputational damage, and legal liabilities for your company.
According to Cisco, cyber fatigue affects up to 42% of companies, leading to ineffective security strategies. Meanwhile, an IT audit identifies gaps and weaknesses in the security control system, which includes access incident response procedures, controls, intrusion detection systems, and encryption. It is critical to conduct a security analysis without delay if your business has experienced data breaches or other threats. In all other cases, they should be conducted at least once a year. IT audit will not only assess the effectiveness of your security controls but also suggest remediation measures to prevent future incidents.
Furthermore, an IT audit also assesses your readiness for disasters and disruptions, enabling you to create robust continuity plans and ensure business continuity in emergencies.
Compliance requirements
Compliance with industry standards and regulations is important for businesses operating in regulated sectors such as healthcare, finance, construction, etc.
If your business is subject to regulatory mandates such as HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS, or SOX, conducting regular inspections is essential to identifying potential gaps in compliance, assessing risk exposure, implementing necessary controls, and maintaining regulatory compliance across your IT infrastructure.
Moreover, auditing is the most effective solution for ensuring your technical documentation is available, up-to-date, and high-quality. Technical documentation is vital not only for compliance requirements but also for quickly resolving issues that arise during development. It also helps new developers understand the technical details and saves the team’s time.
Aging IT infrastructure
Outdated or aging IT infrastructure can hinder your organization’s productivity, performance, and innovation. Legacy systems may lack the scalability, functionality, and security required to meet the evolving needs of your business.
If your IT infrastructure consists of outdated hardware or software, it is highly recommended to perform a technical examination to assess the health and effectiveness of your technology stack. IT company SysGears will help you identify obsolete systems, plan upgrades or replacements, modernize your IT infrastructure, and prioritize corrective and maintenance actions when you need to perform a large number of updates.
Inefficient business processes
Inefficient business processes can increase costs and block growth opportunities for your business. According to McKinsey research, 50% of all work can be automated, and 31% of businesses have automated at least one function.
An IT audit can identify that your organization needs to eliminate manual paper-based processes or automate inefficient workflows. By assessing your existing business processes and technology ecosystem, an IT audit can also find opportunities for digital transformation. As a result, it will enable you to achieve operational excellence, drive business value, reduce costs, and optimize resource allocation to maximize the return on investment from technology investments.
UX issues
Research shows that 21% of abandoned carts are due to complicated or lengthy checkout processes. If you have a website or an app, you should ensure its navigating process is simple, as users are looking for an intuitive design.
An IT audit can evaluate the interface design and user experience of your software to identify areas for improvement. It will also ensure that your services and products meet the expectations and needs of all users, regardless of their abilities or backgrounds.
Usability and accessibility checks can detect design issues that provoke high bounce rates or a limited number of active users, including complicated or confusing onboarding and a lack of user-centered UI/UX design solutions.
Conclusion
Conducting an IT audit is essential for businesses to assess the effectiveness, security, compliance, and accessibility of their IT infrastructure. By addressing the signs outlined in this article and evaluating IT systems, businesses can proactively address the issues, discover optimization possibilities, and mitigate possible risks.
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