Ahead of the launch of the next CNA Hardy Risk & Confidence Survey, we wanted to look over some of the predictions our 1500 global business leaders of multinational firms made in November last year, while looking six months into the future - which neatly brings us to now.
Indeed, much has gone on since we asked global business leaders what they thought their risk landscape and confidence levels would look like in six months’ time.
The UK’s position on Brexit has unravelled to an unprecedented political stance; other geopolitical and trade tensions continue to linger; the devastating and costly effects of climate change have been catapulted to the top of the global risk agenda and the accelerating pace of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is presenting us with both phenomenal opportunities and daunting challenges.
Never have we lived and operated in a more connected time. As we think about the cascading impact any of these risks could have across multiple industry sectors, it’s difficult to say where the tail stops.
It is against this backdrop and other intertwining factors that our data pulled out the interconnectedness of risk as the most prevalent theme in our Autumn Risk & Confidence research.
Although the interconnectedness of risk isn’t a new phenomenon, the accelerating pace of globalisation and technological advancements has exponentially changed the dynamics of how interconnected risks can impact organisations today.
Global risks in particular can be difficult for companies to visualise, and companies can't prevent such threats as natural catastrophes or chronic fiscal crises. Yet the commercial consequences are real. Identifying links between risks is crucial for understanding the big picture, the first step toward mitigating the effects of uncontrollable risks.
Survey respondents were evenly split from across the following industry sectors: manufacturing; construction; transportation & logistics; financial services; professional services; technology; fintech; healthcare (private) and life sciences.
All sectors bar one ranked cyber as their biggest risk now, and almost all had ranked either political or economic risk or both in their top three.
So, what does this mean? Our ever increasing dependency on technology is creating an industry-wide, systemic response: cyber is collectively the biggest risk business leaders face.
But while technology might be the face of interconnected risk, shared global uncertainty around political and economic issues have formed the arms and legs and we shall be closely monitoring these trends as we continue to navigate risk in 2019.