Understanding and Auditing Megatrends
13th October, 2026 | 09:00 - 12:30 CET
14th October, 2026 | 09:00 - 12:30 CET
In the context of digitalization, new technologies keep emerging, some entirely new, some further developments of existing technologies, and some arising from the interaction of existing technologies with one another. Organizations need to be able to identify, analyze, and assess these technologies. For internal audit, this means: it must likewise identify, analyze, and assess these technologies, in order to understand the associated risks, and to be able to judge whether the organization's strategic approach to these technologies is sound and what risks arise from it.
Core Topics and Guiding Questions
Stage 1: Discovering and Identifying Future Technologies
- What future technologies currently exist, and how can an overview of them be gained?
- How does an organization identify new or emerging technologies early, before they become widely known?
Stage 2: Classifying Technologies
- Is this a completely new technology, a further development of an existing technology, or does it arise from the interaction of already existing technologies?
- How can a new or extended technology be systematically classified and assessed?
Stage 3: New Processes and Needs
- What new processes arise from the use of this technology within the organization?
- What new needs, in terms of competencies, resources, structures, arise as a result?
Stage 4: Consequences for Audit Work
- What new audit topics arise from these new processes and needs?
- What audit methodology is needed to trace this chain from discovery and identification through classification to processes and needs in a comprehensible way?
The Approach of This Seminar
This seminar does not provide a list of current trend topics that would become outdated after a short time, but an analytical framework that can be applied to any new or extended technology: from discovery and identification, through classification and the resulting processes and needs, to the consequences for audit work. Artificial intelligence is just one example among several here, the framework can equally be applied to technologies such as quantum computing or distributed ledger technologies. For internal audit, this means: it gains a repeatedly applicable methodology instead of a body of knowledge that becomes outdated as soon as new technologies emerge.
Target Audience
All auditors, particularly those with responsibility for risk and technology monitoring.
Trainer:
Christoph Deeg has spent more than 20 years working on the design of the digital-analog living environment and helps organizations develop comprehensive digital-analog strategies. For 13 years, he has been applying this expertise for the Audit Research Center (ARC-Institute), translating it specifically into the logic of internal audit. In doing so, he has worked with a large number of international audit functions of varying size. His focus is on thinking beyond classic audit logic - he is brought in when it comes to restructuring an audit function or developing new audit and internal control strategies. His approach is consistently systemic, while remaining closely oriented toward audit practice. The value for participants accordingly lies not in classic audit knowledge, but in the ability to precisely identify and assess scope, strategy, and new topics, particularly digital ones. In this way, he connects the perspective of digital transformation as a whole with the concrete requirements of audit practice.
