The latest PwC Global Crisis and Resilience Survey 2023 shows that the vast majority of companies (91%) have experienced at least one event other than a pandemic that has disrupted their operations in the past two years. This percentage is up from a similar study conducted by PwC in 2019, where 69% of companies had experienced a disruptive event in the past 5 years. More than three-quarters of respondents (76%) said their worst disruptive event had a medium or large impact on work.

Many organizations are confident that they can overcome such an event in the future, especially if it is similar to what they experienced, but only a third have plans and programs in place to deal with it.

“In this era of crises, business leaders must anticipate and prepare for disruptive events. While they recognize the importance of a strategic approach to sustainability, many do not. In addition, our research shows that some companies are not planning any investment in fundamental areas such as threat monitoring, supply chain resilience or disaster recovery. Lack of investment is not only a potential threat, it puts these organizations at a disadvantage to their competitors. Resilience programs help organizations respond quickly and act in the event of disruptive events,” said Ana Sebov, director and head of forensics at PwC Romania.

In terms of investments, the majority of respondents plan to invest in cyber resilience over the next two years (87%), indicating concern over the rise of ransomware and other cyber-attacks, followed by crisis management (86%) and emergency management (85%). Nearly 60% of business leaders understand the need to support sustainability strategies with technology that enables them to gain actionable insights from across the enterprise.

Among the main motivations for investing in sustainability are strategy, regulation and fear.

The sectors with the most integrated sustainability programs, according to respondents, are technology, media and telecommunications (28%), healthcare (24%), energy, utilities and resources (24%), financial services (22%) and public services (19%).

About the survey: The PwC Global Crisis and Resilience Survey 2023 was conducted among nearly 2,000 companies in 42 countries to learn how companies are focusing their resources, efforts and investments to become more resilient.

Article supported by PwC Romania