DailyPost 574
DATA AUDIT
Data Audit is the future of audit. Audit is a method to review the quality of functioning & suggest methods to improve. It primarily means checking of accounts, the financial review at the operational level. Besides the financial, there are other types of audit it. When it did not suffice, Physical Audit was also taken up, between the two giving a cue to the perfect health of the enterprise. As the enterprise & projects have something to deliver, which is neatly laid down, organisations started with performance audit. A combination of the three might be the golden formula.
The story changes here and a completely unknown element, not known earlier for value; Data, makes an iconic entry onto the the business world center stage. It was known as the new oil. And unlike assets of the past, money or physical assets, latest being oil, the value of data, and lots of times of data itself, has been the creation of tech top IT tech giants, redefining human existence, in a manner never happened in human history. We have still to come to grips with this situation. Data is the centre of our universe.
How to deal with this animal has to be devised &intermediaries who become owners of Data & manipulate the world. FB-CA is a glaring example & we ought to learn from it. We still live at the fanciful stage of imaginary privacy & data protection. Audit as an effective tool, the world has known for long & its high time it is used for the futuristic purposes, having a check on the complete life cycle of data in any organisation, whatever might be the nature of the organisation. The audit mechanism, legal mandate & the talent has to fall in place for this complex audit job.
Nobody has been able to audit FB, what happened how & why? What is the road ahead? Because their is no Data Audit worth it’s salt happening. Data Audit is the hand maiden of the enterprise itself. Optimists would have us believe that it is in the nascent stage, in reality, it is non-existent.
THE MOST IMPORTANT ASSET OF MANKIND CANNOT REMAIN UNAUDITED.
Sanjay Sahay