It is not just information technology that is steadily gaining in complexity. The same goes for markets and sectors. That is why, in providing our audit and advisory services, we are increasingly expected to make allowance for the specific industry in which a client operates. To accommodate this, BDO adopted a market-oriented strategy years ago. Our corporate structure is based on this strategy.

Our IT Risk Assurance services focus specifically on the following sectors:

Financial Services

New technology has a major impact on the financial services sector, which is currently undergoing a digital transformation. Traditional business models are quickly being replaced by fully digital services. Key words are speed, convenience and customer focus. Technology and data are the principal enablers. The time that large, traditional players in the sector came up with innovations is behind us. As it stands, it is fintechs and tech giants (e.g. Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba and Microsoft) that drive innovation and launch new technologies. This calls for sound governance and risk management to allow for a responsible approach to the digital transformation. We are seeing regulators (such as the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), ECB, EIOPA, etc.) are trying to exercise some level of control over these innovations too by stepping up IT risk and compliance requirements of IT/data quality and management, cybersecurity and outsourcing.

Public Sector

The public sector is facing major challenges, which is why it is a dynamic field. Technological advances, developments in rules and regulations, and major changes in Dutch and global environmental policies are raising the public’s expectations in areas such as sustainability, the environment, compliance, privacy, security and efficiency.

Public bodies are keen to devise appropriate solutions for addressing these developments. BDO’s Public Sector Team (which includes IT Risk Assurance experts) would be happy to provide targeted support. Our service offering to the public sector can be broken down into four segments:

Healthcare

The Dutch healthcare sector has become increasingly reliant on information technology, whether it concerns office automation, facility services, medical technology or mobile and portable equipment. In recent years, both the healthcare sector itself and the Dutch government have invested heavily in digitalising healthcare and business services (i.e. healthcare delivery, logistics, back office, controls and information transparency) and – parallel to that – encouraging the use of online patient services in practitioners’ day-to-day work.

Government

Government bodies are increasingly expected to be proactive (i.e. provide customised services fast) and transparent without losing sight of their forward-looking focus. The digital economy forces government bodies to act fast and have a continuous online and physical presence, just like organisations in the corporate sector. Government bodies are increasingly expected, both by the public and the business community, to spend public money as effectively and responsibly as possible. But politicians and the European Union are increasingly demanding responsible spending of public money as well. Recent requirements imposed by the Dutch central government include Smart and Sustainable Cities, single information audits (Dutch acronym: ENSIA), information security baseline (Dutch acronym: BIO), online identification audits, the Open Government Act, and performance measurements and audits.

Public interest organisations

Because of dwindling grant money, public interest organisations are increasingly forced to demonstrate their added value to today’s critical public, particularly in view of their growing reliance on public income. This creates a rising demand for transparency and stakeholder confidence. In this light, the digital transformation offers many new opportunities, while posing new challenges and IT risks as well.

Housing associations

Housing corporations have an important social mission, but the funding of their core business has come under pressure. Their business model is subject to strict requirements and there are complex rules for their public accountability. The transformation of their activities - through digital applications for improving their customer service and efficiency - comes with significant risks and challenges in terms of control (data quality, security, IT governance) and compliance with rules and regulations (privacy, assurance).

Our teams keep close track of any developments in the markets in question and can help you from start to finish, whether it comes to designing, testing and implementing systems, managing your principal IT risks or coming up with pragmatic solutions. Our specialists focus on these themes from a risk management angle, driven by a strong digitalisation/IT component.

Contact

New technologies and IT risk and compliance call for tailor-made expertise. We would be happy to help you address issues relating to IT risk and compliance, IT outsourcing, IT and cloud assurance, cloud risk management, privacy and security, data management and internal audit.

To find out more about how BDO can help you resolve your IT issues, please feel free to contact one of our specialists with no strings attached.