Centre of attention: Reframing data for assurance innovation

With new capabilities and some surprising outcomes, the PwC Assurance Experience Centre is in full swing, says Andrew Holmes.

Have you found a way to take all the information you collect, understand it, and act on it instantly?

Organisations around the world are grappling with the same thing. According to PwC research, there could be 20 times more usable data in the world by 2020 than there is today. As long as organisations still see data as reams of intangible figures, we’re at risk of being overwhelmed by information, rather than using it for its full potential.

That’s why we opened the Assurance Experience Centre earlier this year. We want to reframe data to make it timely, digestible and actionable, and we’ve done that by investing in the development and application of incredible technologies that present data as an experience.

Data in action

In our Assurance Experience Centre, organisations can go in and see their data in action, and understand what is happening. The idea is to encourage better insights and decision-making as a reaction to fact, not instinct.

We’re nearing the end of the year and it’s great to report that the Centre is delivering beyond all expectations.

One of our clients was initially hesitant to experience the Centre. However, after a brief scheduled visit, they spent hours longer than planned. So impressed by the way they could visually see the way their payments were processed and where exactly their transactions went, our client found it almost mesmerising as well as useful.

Another success story came in October, when our data-auditing tool Halo, designed for use in the Assurance Experience Centre, won the award for Audit Innovation of the Year from the International Accounting Bulletin.

So after some fantastic feedback, and results, it makes sense for us to expand our capabilities and continue to invest in the Centre.

Centre of attention

One way we’re doing this is through our people. Jeroen Hoexum – our new Director of Data Assurance – is one recent addition to the PwC team in Auckland. He joined us with 20 years’ experience working at PwC in the Netherlands and prior to this, as the Chief Data Officer of Haarlem City Council.

The idea of presenting data in a legible and actionable way has been a speciality of Jeroen’s for some time, making him a perfect fit for our assurance team and our Assurance Experience Centre.

Mix this, with our continuing investments into hardware to make things yet more timely, automated and continuous and we have the ability to take more clients through the Centre in 2017 and to bring their data to life.

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Contact us

Andrew Holmes

Andrew Holmes

Managing Partner Risk Services, PwC New Zealand

Tel: +64 21 284 7035

Karl Deutschle

Karl Deutschle

Partner, PwC New Zealand

Tel: +64 21 352 383

Jeroen Bouman

Jeroen Bouman

Consulting Managing Partner and Wellington Market Managing Partner, PwC New Zealand

Tel: +64 21 585 753

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