1. How many programs will your auditors need to use?
Among many other tasks, IA functions should document their work, manage issue tracking, measure progress and generate reports. Many auditors can find themselves working in several programs in some of these areas, complemented with manual processes. Workflows can be inefficient and hard to define, with little transparency or visibility at a given moment.
Think about how your function will approach its tasks across five key areas: strategy and IA management, risk assessment, audit planning, execution, and reporting and communication. To what extent do you have technology across these areas, and how much of it is integrated? EY VIA is a platform for the end-to-end IA life cycle to become fully digital and automated; it considers the different core and edge capabilities, validating that the right governance, process and capabilities and enablers are in place for each area of the life cycle.
2. How well are your tools connected to automation and analytics?
By introducing analytics and automation, IA functions can expand and enhance the depth of their risk analyses and demonstrate their worth in becoming a trusted advisor to the C-suite. Automation frees IA professionals from rote tasks like trying to input data or move it from one system to another, among other low-value responsibilities.
With these technologies, functions can better enable root-cause analyses and continuous risk monitoring to shift from being reactive to proactive in their audit responses, providing information that helps anticipate future risks and recommend measures that mitigate or reduce risk.
This functionality should be integrated in any solution you consider. EY VIA includes automation and analytics, as well as dashboards and other visualizations that are critical for executive decision-making in real time. For instance, those in EY VIA show constantly updating information based on ratings, related processes and deadlines.