How Thryv, Inc. Developed a Risk-Focused Organizational Culture

In our Spotlight on Success series, Jeff Wing, AVP, Internal Audit at Thryv, Inc., shares how he leveraged AuditBoard’s connected risk platform to reduce manual burdens and centralize risk mitigation. This Texas-based company–with a SaaS platform that helps small business owners manage all their processes, apps, and tasks in a single pane-of-glass solution–services almost half a million customers.  

Hear how this team automated workflows and reduced overhead by switching from a manual environment of email, spreadsheets, and shared drives to AuditBoard, including: 

• Leveraging AuditBoard’s connected risk platform to boost operational efficiency, strengthen internal controls, and align audit plans with key initiatives.
• Seamlessly automating workflows and processes to reduce time and effort for the internal audit team and 180 stakeholders.
• Developing a risk ecosystem to ensure internal audit activities are tied to the right risks at the right time.

Tell us a little about Thryv, Inc. and some of the challenges you faced in your previous manual audit environment. 

“My name is Jeff Wing and I am the AVP of Internal Audit at Thryv, Inc. We leverage print and digital media, along with our SaaS platform, to help small and medium businesses stay competitive. We’ve got over 400,000 customers.

Before AuditBoard, all of our internal audit processes were executed manually. All of the documentation that was gathered was done through email. All of the testing was done in spreadsheets. All of the repositories were out on shared drives that the team maintained. They were doing the best they could with the tool set that they had, but unfortunately, those manual processes were fully consuming — there was no additional time beyond just getting the SOX testing done.”

How did AuditBoard benefit your stakeholders and internal audit team?

“We are able to reduce the burden of the SOX program with the WorkStream module, which we implemented when we first rolled out SOXHUB. The goal was to eliminate sending emails to gather documents. That’s been a tremendous amount of time and effort saved not just by the internal audit team, but also the 180 stakeholders that touch the SOX program throughout the year..”

How did Thryv, Inc. leverage AuditBoard to create a risk-focused organizational culture?

“When I joined Thryv, Inc. part of my mandate was to change the brand of internal audit and I did that with the value proposition that internal audit is the internal risk monitor of the company. There’s really no one else in the company that brings a controls mindset, a risk mindset, and then touches all the facets of the business. 

It is crucial to be able to position internal audit where we can bring that knowledge and experience, and then escalate that up in the right form, whether that’s an internal audit report or a readout or being part of a steering committee. All of these [capabilities] help to reinforce that internal audit mission, which is to find those risks, evaluate the risks, and then help our management team mitigate those risks.”

How did leveraging multiple modules help automate risk management for your organization?

“The next natural stopping off point was RiskOversight, which is going to be the new home for our broad view on risk and mitigation. One of the big benefits is that RiskOversight not only ensures risks and mitigation activities tie into the internal audit plan, but it develops a risk ecosystem. RiskOversight allows us to reach out in a routine way and gather input from the business that helps inform a conversation on risk that happens on a regular basis. This helps us make sure that internal audit activities are not only tied to risk, but tied to the right risks at the right time. 

We’ve found, time and time again, that AuditBoard just makes sense. It’s delivered in a phenomenal way, and I think in the future it’ll continue to deliver.”