IT asset and usage monitoring reduces risks - Update - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Internal Auditor, August, 2002 by C. Brune

LESS THAN A QUARTER OF organizations worldwide have a life-cycle information technology (IT) asset management program, according to researchers with Gartner Inc., a business and technology trend analysis and consulting firm. The company has found that although 60 percent of its clients track their IT assets with automated tools, the remaining 40 percent either perform this task manually or don't track these assets at all.

Gartner estimates that tracking distributed computing hardware assets poorly can increase an organization's costs by 7 percent to 10 percent annually, approximately $560 to $800 per user. The group encourages organizations to evaluate the quality of their asset management practices to reduce costly risks associated with overpaying for hardware and software, improper system manageability, incorrect deployment of new software, and inadequate service levels.

In a related effort to help organizations curb their IT risks, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) recently released a guide to assist executives in monitoring IT usage in their organizations. The sixth in a series of publications by IFAC's Information Technology Committee, "Managing Information Technology Monitoring" targets accountants, financial controllers, auditors, business managers, and others involved in their organization's IT decision-making.

The 42-page guide examines:

* How IT sustains the business with operational processes and risk and control systems.

* Whether or not IT complies with business strategy, standards, and policy.

* How IT improves the business and supports enterprise growth.

It also lists several tools that managers can use to improve their monitoring efforts.

"IT monitoring is especially important because of the complexity and risks involved in IT activities," says John Lainhart IV, chair of the Information Systems and Audit and Control Association's IT Governance Board. "Most importantly, IT monitoring is fundamental to IT governance and part of management's stewardship responsibility. It is necessary whenever IT is used within an organization."

For more information about Gartner's IT-asset research, visit the Gartner Web site at www.gartner.com. The IFAC guide can be downloaded free of charge from www.ifac.org/store, or a hard copy can be purchased for Us $25 plus shipping. For more information, contact IFAC's publications department at 1-212-286-9344.