Staff retention and cyber threats: What else is keeping Aussie CEOs up at night?
Cyber risks and the ability to acquire and keep workers are the main issues keeping Australian business leaders up at night, according to a new report from KPMG.
KPMG Australia’s Keeping Us Up At Night 2024 report surveyed 319 C-suite executives and board members from private sector enterprises, between September 22, and October 16, 2023.
The top challenge for businesses in 2024 was protecting and dealing with cyber risks, with 43% of respondents putting this among their top concerns.
Talent acquisition, retention and upskilling workers to meet a digitised future was a close second, with 42% worried about this.
“Cyber risks were only fourth top priority in last year’s survey but recent high-profile cyberattacks and outages affecting large numbers of people and businesses have clearly seen them rise up the business agenda,” explained Dr Brendan Rynne, chief economist at KPMG.
“Given most business leaders do not come from a technology/cyber background there may also be a ‘fear of the unknown’ compared with challenges which are more in their comfort zone.”
Talent acquisition was the top issue last year, with an overwhelming 74% of respondents nominating it. The aforementioned public hacks on Optus, Medibank, and others this year have seen cybercrime eclipse it.
The report also notes the “unprecedented numbers of migrants who have entered the Australian economy over the past 12 months will have had some bearing on this”.
Dealing with evolving regulatory processes, reporting changes and impacts (41%); digital transformation and optimisation, and extracting organisational value from it (38%); and cost controls in an inflationary environment (38%) round out the top five things keeping the executives up at night.
The top two concerns for Australian leaders are consistent for both the next 12 months, and the next three to five years, according to the report.
Further down the line in regards to pressing concerns for business leaders are ‘new technologies’ (AI, machine learning, blockchain and distributed ledger technology, quantum computing), and the use cases and ethics that arise when implementing such technology.
Other areas of concern include identifying and growing future market segments, and balancing short-term versus long-term value creation.
Despite COVID-related issues across the entire retail and manufacturing supply chain, and the current global economic crunch, of least worry to business leaders is de-risking supply chains, and sourcing investment to fund growth opportunities.
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