ADVERTORIAL | Audit and Analytics Solutions securing IT infrastructure during COVID-19

In just a few months, COVID-19 has swept around the world and brought the total number of confirmed cases to more than 4.15 million worldwide. In addition to drastically transporting people into a changing normal, it has also affected economies, business operations and consumer behaviour, thus increasing the need for risk management. As a result, businesses have been going to great lengths to secure their people, profit and relevance. In that process, securing IT infrastructure is a top priority.

Across the globe, businesses have been investing in new technology solutions to secure their IT infrastructure, while functioning and transitioning into a new operational normal. Because the world is becoming more dependent on technology, business leaders have found that they need technology solutions to survive and are not hesitating to invest in those that are aligned with their business needs. One such solution is the COVID-19 Audit and Analytics Toolkit, provided by MC Systems, in partnership with Galvanize, a security, risk, compliance, and audit software company based in Canada.

According to the company, this toolkit is a response to the fact that “organisations around the world are struggling to minimise business disruption from COVID-19, while navigating new realities — and a lot of this responsibility falls on internal audit. What makes internal audit unique is its strength and experience in managing uncertainty by uncovering and tackling risk.”

As a regional leader in business technology, MC Systems has been working attentively with local organisations, such as the Ministry of Finance and The University of the West Indies Hospital, to ensure that they maintain optimal success at little to no risk, using the audit & analytics solution.

Presales consultant at MC Systems, Javion Nevins, says, “This solution allows business customers with a remote-work set-up to govern from a distance and even run reports. No matter what happens, managers need to monitor the risk, whether strategic or operational, to make decisions. This tool allows them to do that securely and off- premises”, and is a feature which the Ministry of Finance has been using to monitor its off-site auditors, payroll data and staff, as well as track customer complaints.

With uncertainty in the air, food security became a top priority for consumers, giving supermarkets more access to customer data and an opportunity to assess that data to improve services. An audit & analytics solution allows the company to monitor all the data sets in a business, not only employees, but customer data as well. Additionally, it monitors inventory, payroll and customer activities; all analytics that can empower confident business decisions in this time. Supermarkets can be guided by customer feedback with the platform’s built-in questionnaire/survey capabilities, which can be formulated and distributed at checkout, or via email.

Managing risk at your fingertips

In these COVID times, a company’s governance and audit team can help to keep the business on track. When there is low activity and more risk, as presented by COVID-19, these teams can play a key role in the business’ survival. They can use technology and expertise to provide the data that the business needs for real-time action and to plan for what is next. Although it is a governance tool, every aspect of the business benefits from it.

“We would recommend that businesses invest now, because beyond COVID-19, the solution is an easy integration into your company’s existing IT infrastructure. Data affects everyone and each department can benefit,” Nevins explains.

“Additionally,” he pointed out that “the CEO wants to know his/her risks at his/her fingertips; the finance people need to know the risk; and IT doesn’t have the headache of hardware management, because it’s in the cloud; and the role of the auditor has evolved to providing counsel and consultancy in the business. That sounds like a crisis=proof success at business continuity.”

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