A technical audit is an in-depth review of a company’s technology infrastructure. The objective is to identify strengths and weaknesses in the tech stack, and ensure that it’s aligned with your business goals. This is an essential step prior to starting a new project, and it provides an important insight into how the technology will perform.
Tech audits differ from IT reviews and security assessment which focus more on assessing systems for compliance and security. Tech audits take stock of the tools your organization uses to complete work and examine their effectiveness, cost, as well as integrations with other technologies.
The specifics of a tech audit are determined by the person conducting the review. It could be requested by a CFO, who is seeking to reduce the cost of software or guided by a management team seeking to be more efficient and agile.
A tech stack audit usually go now uncovers that different tools are used to accomplish the same task. As an example marketing teams may make use of Asana and Wrike while engineering teams might utilize Jira. The data doesn’t move freely between departments, and there is no one source of truth.
These applications are often utilized by specific teams or departments. While some of them may be beneficial and have value, they can also be risky when they’re not vetted for security and integration with other technologies. A tech audit can provide leaders a clear picture of what these tools are and how they are utilized, allowing them to determine if they should be incorporated in the overall technology stack.