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Regardless of the industry,
big businesses buy 80% of their software and develop 20%. Today's
corporate environment knows that without an in-house due diligence
team things can get complicated. If learnt the hard way, it is
a lesson that is time-wasting and affects the bottom line. Unless
your business has a Due Diligence Division well versed in audit
methodology it is advantageous to assign the technology audit
to an external auditor.
Recently I attended a meeting
where I was asked if I could figure out why the 100K 'killer
application' that was intended to transform the way satellite
offices communicated was not used in the three months it had
been integrated into the business system infrastructure. This
meeting had the elements of a thriller: intrigue, suspense, drama,
heroic characters, and scapegoats. There was the promise of great
opportunity -- rapid introduction of innovative, real-time, secure
virtual meeting, archive workplace.
The Managing Partner told me
that he golfed with a friend at the end of the summer who recently
integrated this brand into his similarly geographically dispersed
company, but different industry. The Managing Partner advocated
the purchase to his Partners and IT took an experienced engineer
off his routine assignments for over a week. This fellow began
his due diligence by spending a day at the software house. Met
at the airport by the Product Marketing Manager, he spent the
day speaking to Sales, and Customer Relations who tried to sell
him a service agreement. A boxed lunch was served to him in a
boardroom where he was given promotional literature and fitted
with a chic jacket with the corporate logo and of course spoke
to a Sales Engineer. Three hours before his flight, Investor
Relations and Customer Service took him out for dinner, both
took notes when this due diligencer described who in his corporation
will use the product and how they will use it.
Due diligence, not being his
core competency, this fellow, though a seasoned graduate engineer,
conducted his onsite diligence without written checklists or
audit methodology. When he returned he asked his boss for the
business requirements agenda that the Sales Engineer asked for.
He put together his report based on the glossies he brought back,
information derived from the software company web site and recommended
the twenty thousand per annum Customer Service Agreement. One
would agree that the due diligencer was not only unprepared but
was also beholden to his boss who was obliged to the Managing
Partner to agree with the purchase regardless.
Technology Audit is ßetaWatch's
Core Competency
Have you ever had the feeling
that your technology process, product or service can't be integrated
as you expected? Have you ever felt that a senior manager influenced
the IS team to purchase a technology product, process, or service?
Do you need assurance that the technology fulfills its claimed
features and that your users will use it. Smart and seasoned
writer and editor of ITBusiness Shane Schick says, "If
you don't plan for failure, you should plan to fail".
We are Your Supplemental
Process
Fortunately there is growing
recognition in corporations that due diligence must be handled
in as rigorous a fashion as possible. As new technologies become
truly enterprise critical, all stakeholders have increasing expectations
of the value added. There is diminishing tolerance for problems
introduced by, rather than resolved by the technology solution.
For more than 5 years, ßetaWatch Inc. has been developing
data-gathering and analysis techniques to audit technology. Through
its proprietary audit process, ßetaWatch verifies that
the technology product, process or service delivers what has
been promised. ßetaWatch digital due diligence™ audit technology is supplemental
to your process. Hire us and you tap into our proprietary checklists,
and ISO compliant methodology.
The ßetaWatch external
audit will put management in a position to get maximum benefit
in its dealings with all stakeholders: customers, employees,
shareholders, technical press and the investment community. This
month, we look forward to providing a CPE credited course to
get audit teams up-to-speed fast. The "ISO Advantage
and How to Achieve it" Workshop will be presented at
the Risk Based Internal Auditing annual conference in Phoenix,
Arizona. For your perusal please view Workshop B http://betawatch.com/iqpc/RiskBasedInternalAudit.pdf
I wish you all Happy New Year! |
