Internal audit
Strengthen governance and mitigate risks with proactive internal audits
Waiting for an external software audit can expose your organization to significant financial penalties, security vulnerabilities and operational disruptions. A proactive internal audit is your first and best line of defense. Flexera provides the insights and tools you need to conduct thorough internal assessments, understand your true software utilization, identify risks early and ensure continuous compliance.
Proactively assess your IT asset risk
Audit readiness
Why internal audits are non-negotiable in modern IT
Many organizations underestimate the power and necessity of regular internal IT audits. Beyond just preparing for external vendor scrutiny, internal audits are crucial for maintaining robust IT governance, controlling software spend, identifying security gaps and ensuring your technology estate aligns with business objectives. Ignoring them means flying blind in critical areas.
- Surprise external audit findings: Being caught off-guard by vendor audits, leading to unbudgeted true-up costs and penalties
- Uncontrolled software spend: Overpaying for underutilized licenses or redundant applications due to lack of visibility
- Increased security vulnerabilities: Undetected end-of-life software or unpatched vulnerabilities, creating significant security risks
- Shadow IT proliferation: Unmanaged SaaS applications and other software bypassing procurement and IT oversight, leading to compliance and security issues
- Inefficient processes: Lack of clear data hindering strategic decision-making for IT investments and resource allocation
Complete data
Conduct thorough internal audits with clarity and control with Flexera
Flexera empowers you to transform internal audits from a daunting task into a strategic advantage. Our solutions provide a comprehensive view of your entire IT estate, from on-premises to SaaS-to-cloud, enabling you to conduct self-assessments effectively, identify potential issues and build a strong, proactive governance posture.
- Know your true license position: Gain accurate insights into software installations, usage and entitlements to prepare for vendor license audits
- Automate data collection and normalization: Obtain information from multiple sources, automatically cleansed and enriched by Technopedia for accuracy
- Identify and prioritize vulnerabilities: Pinpoint end-of-life software and unpatched vulnerabilities with data from Secunia Research , helping you manage security risks
- Uncover shadow IT & SaaS sprawl: Get visibility into SaaS application usage across your organization, including both free and paid applications, to mitigate associated risks
- Optimize software spend: Identify underutilized or redundant software to reduce costs and optimize your IT budget
- Strengthen IT governance: Ensure adherence to internal IT policies and regulatory requirements across your hybrid IT environment
Identify vulnerable applications
What to target: Key areas for your internal IT audit
A successful internal audit program addresses multiple facets of your IT environment. Flexera helps you focus on the areas that deliver the most impact in terms of risk reduction and optimization.
- Software license compliance: Verifying adherence to vendor license agreements to prevent costly true-ups
- Security vulnerability management: Assessing exposure from outdated or unpatched software
- SaaS application usage and spend: Identifying unmanaged SaaS subscriptions and optimizing spend
- Hardware asset lifecycle: Tracking hardware from procurement to disposal to manage costs and risks
- Data quality and CMDB accuracy: Ensuring your IT inventory data is complete and trustworthy for informed decision-making
Identify shadow IT
More than just defense: The broader benefits of internal audits
While preparing for external audits is a key driver, the strategic advantages of a robust internal audit program extend much further, contributing to overall business health and efficiency.
- Reduced external audit costs and stress: Minimize fines and disruption by proactively addressing compliance gaps
- Optimized IT spend: Eliminate wasted expenditure on unused or redundant software and SaaS
- Enhanced cybersecurity posture: Reduce attack surfaces by identifying and remediating software vulnerabilities
- Improved operational efficiency: Streamline IT processes with accurate data and clear insights
- Data-driven decision making: Support strategic IT planning, budgeting and vendor negotiations with reliable information
- Stronger IT governance and compliance: Ensure continuous adherence to internal policies and external regulations
Complete IT asset management
The Flexera advantage for streamlined internal audits
Flexera’s comprehensive Technology Value Optimization (TVO) platform, including leading solutions like Flexera One and Snow Atlas , provides the unparalleled visibility and intelligence needed to conduct effective internal audits.
Comprehensive discovery and data accuracy
Actionable insights and risk mitigation
Hybrid IT visibility: Discover and inventory assets across on-premises, SaaS, cloud and containers.
Effective License Position (ELP) automation: Automatically calculate your license compliance status for key vendors.
TechnopediaTM foundation: Leverage the world’s largest curated repository of market intelligence on enterprise software and hardware for data normalization and enrichment.
Vulnerability intelligence: Utilize Secunia Research data to identify and prioritize software vulnerabilities.
Automated data normalization: Ensure your IT data is clean, consistent and reliable.
SaaS management capabilities: Discover and manage SaaS applications, including shadow IT, to control spend and risk.
With Flexera, your internal audit process becomes more efficient, accurate and strategically valuable, turning potential risks into opportunities for improvement.
Ten years ago, we had five to six audits a year. Now we have zero to one because they talk amongst each other, and they know they will never find anything wrong with our data. And we can prove it.
John Haenen, Software asset consultant Dutch Police
Frequently asked questions
Why is an internal audit useful?
Internal audits help reign in software spend by understanding your software assets. They can also help you protect your environments from external threats by auditing what software/hardware is approaching EOL. Leverage Flexera for an internal audit to know if you are underutilizing assets, not utilizing assets, or overutilizing assets and are at risk of a vendor audit.
Does Flexera use the NIST database for tracking vulnerabilities?
Flexera utilizes NVD/NIST and our own Secunia research team to get the most up-to-date and comprehensive view of software vulnerabilities. Learn more about our Secunia research team.
How can Flexera help me with Software vulnerabilities?
Utilizing Flexera, you’ll receive security alerts covering your applications and systems, be able to discover details about how software vulnerabilities may affect you, including solution stats and access software vulnerability intelligence, which is verified, tested and vaildated by Secunia Research.
How often should we conduct internal software audits?
The frequency depends on your organization's size, complexity and risk exposure. However, many best practices suggest at least annually for major vendors, or more frequently if significant IT changes occur. Flexera enables continuous monitoring to support this.
What are the first steps to establishing an internal audit process?
Start by defining the scope, identifying key stakeholders, selecting the right tools for discovery and analysis (like Flexera) and establishing clear objectives for what you want to achieve (e.g., license compliance, security risk reduction).
How does an internal audit help with software vendor negotiations?
By knowing your true usage and compliance position before negotiations, you have accurate data to support your stance, avoid overbuying and potentially identify cost-saving opportunities.
Can Flexera help identify risks beyond just license compliance during an internal audit?
Yes, Flexera helps identify end-of-life software, security vulnerabilities through Secunia Research integration and risks associated with shadow IT and unmanaged SaaS applications.
How can our internal audit findings be used for IT governance?
Findings can highlight areas where IT policies are not being followed, where processes need improvement (e.g., software requests, EOL management) and where there are opportunities to strengthen overall IT governance and reduce risk.
Informing IT, Transforming IT