Data-related risks and unpredictable weather patterns have emerged as some of the biggest concerns for Indian business leaders steering their companies through an increasingly volatile economic environment, a new study found.
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Data-related risks and unpredictable weather patterns have emerged as some of the biggest concerns for Indian business leaders steering their companies through an increasingly volatile economic environment, a new study found.
About 91% of the respondents in a survey, commissioned by Bloomberg LP, said they found it easier to manage traditional risks compared to newer “non-linear risks” — characterized by their unpredictability, extent and ability to disrupt businesses. Environment, data-led, reputational and regulation risks were pinned down as the “non-linear” threats in the survey, which polled 300 top executives from technology, services, travel, manufacturing, and retail industry.
Amid escalating climate emergencies and technological disruptions such as cryptocurrencies and ChatGPT, more than half of the respondents said “the nature of risk has significantly changed from what it was a decade ago – and that risk will also look significantly different again a decade from now,” according to a statement Wednesday spotlighting the key findings of the survey.
The planet — already 1.2C (2.16 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer since pre-industrial times — has seen a rising number of extreme weather events this year with wildfires, heat waves, flash floods and hurricanes inflicting damage worth tens of millions of dollars. On the other hand, the rapidly evolving applications of Artificial Intelligence is forcing businesses to pivot and adapt quickly in a world that’s also becoming geopolitically more complex.
Here are some of the key findings of the survey:
- About 48% of those polled identified data-related risks as the top concern, underscoring how data will both be a source of immense power and vulnerability in the future
- Travel, hospitality and logistics sectors were the most concerned about the threat to their IT systems from hackers
- Nearly half of the chief executives and managing directors said that the risks of the future will be different from those seen today; this number was 72% for chief technology officers
- One-fifth of the respondents were apprehensive about their ability to tackle future risks with current data capabilities
- Almost 13% of CEOs and MDs cited climate change as the top risk
“Risks have evolved, making them quicker to emerge, less predictable and far more variable in severity,” the report said. “The delta between risk and crisis is smaller now than ever before.”
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