How Successful ITAM Helps Financial Companies Stand Up to an Audit

Among the most heavily regulated industries, the financial services sector is faced with internal and external audits regularly. Banking audits may review an array of areas, including everything from fraud risk and system and process accuracy to financial services. With so much ground to cover, it’s imperative for financial companies to be prepared for auditors to comb through internal workflow and databases.

Successful IT asset management (ITAM) solutions can help banks and financial institutions hold their own against the scrutiny of a thorough audit. With the right software and automations in place, firms can prepare for any assessment and vet their own ITAM processes before an external party does.

Audits and the Financial Sector: A Costly, Time-Consuming Endeavor

There are several audit types banking and financial companies are faced with that feature an exhaustive list of requirements they must adhere to. Compliance, in general, can be an expensive ordeal, demanding steady internal reviews, process and system updates, and a substantial amount of preparation. This translates into a considerable amount of time and money spent avoiding fines and compliance setbacks. The banking sector, in particular, is saddled with steep audit-related expenses. Considering all the resources allocated to compliance efforts, a failed audit is a squandered investment.

When providing requisite materials to auditors, many financial organizations run into issues with outdated, inefficient asset tracking processes that prevent them from presenting a comprehensive audit trail.

The Benefits of ITAM and Audit Automation for Financial Companies

A streamlined solution can do away with slow-moving auditing processes and create the all-inclusive documentation needed to satisfy independent assessments. Audit automation powered by real-time asset visibility benefits financial companies in myriad ways, including:

• Increased efficiency: Manual, time-consuming activities can be automated and executed by digital platforms. This frees employees up to focus on high-value activities critical to their organization’s core competencies.
• Consistent, accurate information: Collective all the necessary information for the audit process is labor-intensive. An automated solution allows companies to integrate data from disparate sources, provide a complete overview of all assets, and ensure no data falls through the cracks.
• Satisfy compliance and regulatory needs: When the audit process is mapped out as a workflow and automated via a centralized platform, all pertinent information is captured automatically. This not only helps ensure compliance but grants organizations the ability to respond to changing regulatory landscape.
• Refined business insight: Improved audit trails allow businesses to make decisions regarding aspects of their workflow and expenditures, giving them valuable insight into what their hardware and software budget should be.

File Your Financial Firm’s Taxes in Confidence

For the financial industry, audits are a fact of life. However, the more preparation organizations within this sector take, the better positioned they will be when it comes to meeting auditors’ criteria. ITAM tools can be used to show appropriate assets are in place to keep a company’s data secure, security measures are functioning as they should, and promote stability and performance of pertinent data.

When you turn to Asset Vue, you’re partnering with asset management software professionals that help you visualize asset lifecycles, including everything from mobile devices to office chairs. For more information about why Asset Vue’s IT asset management tools are instrumental for managing data, software compliance, hardware assets, and your financial service’s IT audit, contact us today.