Audits are an inherently labour intensive and arduous process. They are, however, absolutely necessary; and the more effectively the outcomes and findings can be communicated, the better. After all, the whole point of any audit is to uncover any gaps in process or inventory – so it’s critical that any visual representation of that data is doing its job.
Data Visualisation software has come on leaps and bounds over the past few years and Using Data Visualisation software data helps to unlock the natural analytical capabilities of the human mind.
Data Analytics has now become a crucial part of many audit processes, compared to just a few years ago, where it was generally only explored for tactical solutions to auditing challenges.
Typically, Data Analytics helps auditors in the following ways:
- To Increase Productivity: through automated processes
- To Overcome Boundaries: where a manual approach would be unfeasible
- To Gain Insights: the ability to identify patterns and anomalies
Data visualisation software translates data and metrics into charts and graphs to help auditors track data metrics in real time so they can better understand the status of the audit, in a collaborative fashion with their team.
Ultimately, Data Visualisation aims to act as as a way to enhance the quality and accuracy of the audit process – this is especially true when you have a finite amount of time and resource and the audit scope needs to be adjusted accordingly.
When exploring vast pools of data, Data Visualisation Software helps to translate key insights into something far more understandable, tangible and human.
Not only does visualisation help to monitor and understand the workflow of the audit process itself, but it also helps to deliver the key reason for the audit in the first palace – to understand the data from it. Showing progress to the person who has requested the audit could even help make them make informed decisions before the audit has even been completed (ordering inventory/investigating business processes etc.)
Data visualisation software allows users to create dashboards with scorecards and easy-to-interpret visualisations of company data to follow critical trends and KPIs. Many data visualisation tools provide drag-and-drop functionality and other non-technical capabilities, so the average business user can build the necessary dashboards relating to their role in the business. However, some do offer the ability to create dashboards using code.
Data visualisation solutions can consume data from many sources, including file uploads, databases, and business applications.
These tools are specifically designed to benchmark and visualise important metrics and are
not intended to be used for data analysis. While some data visualisation products may offer drill-down or data joining functionality, their primary purpose is to provide dashboards and visualisations to monitor business-critical data. Users looking for analysis specific tools should look to business intelligence platforms and self-service business intelligence software.
Visualisations can provide users with Business Intelligence to help assess audit risk. Analytics on business processes such as payroll and procurement provides new perspectives, and helps to identify anomalies.
Real-time data visualisation tools (as well as other advanced analytics functionality) are now more accessible than ever, thanks to the latest updates to database and data visualisation software such as BrytlytDB 4.0 and SpotLyt.
A skillset auditors should think about developing
Over the next few years, it’s forecasted that Data Analytics will become a cornerstone of audit work, creating more accurate and efficient audits – forging new insights that have been previously unachievable. Auditors who are already getting on board with these new techniques are likely going to be in demand, so it’s certainly a speciality that’s worth developing.
The Future Is Automated – With Data Storytelling
Over the next few years we can expect to see BI (Business Intelligence) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) working together to deliver Automated Insights (also known as ‘data-based’storytelling).
Automated insights looks to illustrate key findings in a more autonomous way, relieving the need for busy work to prepare compelling visualisations for stakeholders.
Self-service BI looks to give auditors the ability to generate more dynamic reports that will give actionable insights with AI enhancements, to include augmented data preparation and more.
In addition to this, Cloud-based & Mobile BI is expected to surge, which is of particular interest to auditors who most typically work off-site.
Why use Brytlyt for Advanced Analytics?
- Brytlyt helps you interactively query, visualise and power data science workflows over billions of records with a wide range of accelerated analytics solutions.
- Our end-to-end platform delivers decision support and Business Intelligence offers critical insights.
- Built on PostgreSQL, we empower users to analyse more data, faster, and with ease.
At the forefront of the Advanced Analytics revolution
Our unique GPU patent pending IP technology has been developed to be at the very forefront of the transformational analytics revolution. Our next generation platform with ‘speed of thought’ analytics is built for ambitious businesses who want to harness their rapidly growing datasets of today and for tomorrow.
We know data; and we know how to help businesses get the most out of huge amounts of data, in an instant.
A truly smart integration
In terms of deployment, many practical considerations to businesses have already been thought of, including the ability to complement existing database infrastructure so businesses aren’t in a situation where they have to tear out and replace what they already have, but will have the access to the next generation of advanced data visualisation and data processing tools.
Tomorrow’s technology, today
Brytlyt is the future-proofed approach to data processing and analytics that can help a range of business users, including auditors. Instead of overhauling existing systems, our platform can be easily integrated into your business environment. Plus, its adaptable functionality means you can continue to develop the platform as your needs change.
To find out more, contact us here.
