When you hear the phrase “data audit,” you might think of a government agency or large corporation. It’s also common for smaller companies to be audited as more industries become more sensitive to their data security.
Companies that specialize in evaluating your company’s data security practices conduct data audits. The audits include:
- Assessing the physical security of servers and other equipment
- Reviewing employee access privileges
If a data audit identifies any vulnerability, it can help you develop and implement a plan to improve your overall system.
Today, we find out what a data audit is and why you need one.
What Is A Data Audit?
A data audit is an examination of your company’s data to determine where there may be gaps, holes, or inconsistencies. It can be a formal process or more informal.
The primary purpose of data audits is to uncover problems with the quality of your data and help you understand where those problems originate. The goal of a data audit is to determine whether any part of your organisation is mishandling data and causing errors in reporting.
An excellent way to think about a data audit is as a type of detective work. The auditor examines the evidence at hand. In this case, your company collects information from customers, employees, or other sources—and tries to figure out what happened and why.
A data audit is also an opportunity to learn more about how your business operates and how its processes affect the quality of its reports.
How to Conduct a Data Audit
So, how do you conduct a data audit? Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you:
Step 1: Plan your data audit. Make a plan before starting your data audit. In this step, ensure you identify the following:
- Your sponsors
- Personnel responsible for conducting the audit and other key stakeholders
- When the data audit will take place
- The manner in which the audit will be conducted
Identifying the above key areas will help you focus on the outcome of your audit. Moreover, it will ensure that you include everything necessary to get the desired results.
Step 2: Identify the processing of personal data. Here, you must consider how your organisation collects, stores, processes, accesses, and uses personal data.
Here’s an easy-to-use checklist to guide you through the essential considerations during this phase:
- The type of personal data you have
- The methods to collect the data
- The uses of your data
- Where to store this data
- The privacy of your data
- How and who to access the data
Step 3: Assess processing and compliance. After identifying the processing of your data, assess whether these processes comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements.
You can review existing policies and procedures and conduct a gap analysis between them and GDPR requirements. Based on your findings, make recommendations to improve compliance with GDPR requirements.
Step 4: Review, recommend, and make changes. The next step is to review each of these processes in detail to make recommendations for improving them. This may include adding new policies or procedures, adjusting existing ones, and ensuring they are up-to-date with current regulations.
Also, during this step:
- Give the audit report
- Get approval of your findings from your sponsors
- Provide feedback to management on the results of your audit.
- Determine the persons responsible for the implementation
Step 5: Follow up. After conducting your data audit, there are several things you can do to follow up. These include:
- Planning for future audits based on the findings of your current audit.
- Analyzing your findings and taking action on them.
- Using the results of this audit as a basis for improving processes within your organisation.
What Does a Data Audit Want With Me?
With all the attention on data privacy and security, you may wonder what a data audit wants with you.
The answer is simple: you have valuable information that your company needs to protect.
Here are more reasons why you need a data audit:
Improve Data Quality
A data audit can help you identify any issues with your data, like missing values or incorrect codes. These issues can lead to wrong decisions and outcomes for your business.
When looking at your data, consider how it impacts other areas within your organisation. For example, gaps in the information you have on a customer or client can affect customer service or sales efforts.
By identifying these gaps early on, you can take steps to fix them before they become a problem.
Improve Customer Service
Data audits improve customer service by ensuring that all customer records are accurate and up-to-date. This is especially useful for businesses that subscribe to an automated data management system (DMS).
A DMS collects customer data from multiple sources, including sales systems and marketing automation tools, and stores the information in one centralized location.
Data audits ensure that all of this data is accurate before you use it in marketing campaigns or other business areas.
Protection Against Data Breaches
Data breach is a significant concern for most organisations. A breach can cause severe damage to the reputation of an organisation and result in financial losses.
Data audits help identify problems early and prevent them from becoming major crises.
An audit can also help identify vulnerabilities that could lead to a breach. Additionally, it allows you to fix these vulnerabilities before they lead to any real damage.
Maintain Compliance
Organisations must comply with several regulations regarding data protection and privacy. Compliance ensures that your organisation follows all necessary policies and procedures regarding storing and handling confidential information.
Data audits help ensure your practices meet all regulatory requirements. This ensures that you don’t get into trouble with the authorities or risk losing clients due to non-compliance issues.
Improve Response Rate
You can use data audits to improve your response rate. This is the number of people who take action based on an email or advertisement you send them.
If you’re sending out emails or placing ads on Facebook or Google, you want as many people as possible to take action, whether visiting your website, signing up for your mailing list, or buying something from you.
For example, say you own an online store that sells shoes, and you have 100 customers who have purchased more than once in the past year. You could use a data audit to identify those customers. You can then email them if they would like their favorite pair of shoes shipped out before winter arrives. This targeted marketing will help increase sales and build customer loyalty and trust.
Bottom Line
A data audit is one of the first steps in building a robust and data-driven culture. It’s a way to get everyone on the same page regarding what information should be collected and how it should be stored. If you don’t have a plan by now, it’s time to start looking into what needs to be done.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a personal data audit?
A personal data audit examines the personal data you hold and how you process it. It provides a detailed view of how your organisation processes personal data and helps build trust with your customers.
How long does a data audit take?
A data audit typically takes between three and eight weeks, depending on your organisation’s size and your systems’ complexity. But it’s essential not to rush through an audit. The purpose of an audit is not to produce a report as quickly as possible but to deliver quality results that can be relied upon throughout your organisation.
What is high-quality data?
High-quality data is information gathered from reliable sources, verified, and processed correctly to ensure it’s accurate and fit for its intended purpose. It must also be stored securely to be accessed when needed without any risk or loss or damage.
So how can we help?
We know there’s a lot involved and the above information is a lot to digest, let alone action…So that’s where the Marketsoft team can step in and do what we do best! Click here to learn more about our Data Audit service and to request a quote!