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EY IA services can help your business define the IA vision to create value from thought leadership, digital insights, and risk management. Learn more.
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The role of internal audit
Marketing teams often leverage social intelligence for product planning, content creation, strategic direction, market trends and consumer response to campaigns. While using social intelligence in this way is helpful from a marketing perspective, the real value of social intelligence is unlocked when it’s integrated with internal audit insights. Internal audit can drive value by outlining specific risks over time. Knowing these risks can help inform marketing activities, like determining the best strategy for product release.
Linking social intelligence with internal audit accelerates value across the business. By taking an internal audit lens to social intelligence, companies are able to answer the following questions:
- Brand reputation — is there viral content associated with the organization that is impacting brand reputation?
- Product quality/supply chain — is the product being delivered to the end user with the quality expected by the organization and demanded by the market?
- Buzz detection — are conversations occurring around the brand that could impact share price, have regulatory implications or be associated with other risks such as strikes?
- Crisis management — is the organization prepared to respond to a crisis appropriately and adequately, with the right resources?
Using internal audit to drive insights
As corporations move to evolve and keep up with innovation, they are increasingly seeking novel ways to qualify and quantify risks, including leveraging social listening to expand the risk universe. There are several ways in which the internal audit function can leverage social intelligence. For example, an audit could begin with a social intelligence report to provide a baseline of relevant issues of concern, including brand reputation, effectiveness of social strategies, and geography-driven trends and risks. Having this baseline helps identify areas where the business needs work and provides inputs for the audit scope.