The Great Disconnect: A Decade of Crisis Reshapes Risk Management

The Great Disconnect: A decade of crisis reshapes risk management

For the last decade, the Global Risk Landscape report has shed light on how businesses tackle the complexities of global risk.  

Global shockwaves

These events illustrate the interconnectedness of risks. Risk multipliers are where threats in one area amplify vulnerabilities in others – highlighting the need for a networked, interdisciplinary, and agile approach to risk management. 

Categories of risk: a ten-year perspective

Our research has enabled us to identify the following classifications of risks: 

Companies have spent a decade playing catch-up. With digitalisation continuing, will they spend the next decade doing the same? 

In 2025, businesses are less confident in their ability to be proactive

The top 3 risks businesses are most unprepared for

While organisations understand the importance of risk management, they may struggle with their confidence in getting ahead of crises.

People risk back at the top of the agenda

Business leaders are becoming increasingly concerned about people and skills risks. It's close to home: is there a risk leaders themselves lack the skills for the AI age? 

Another part of this is owed to recruitment and retention gaps, particularly relating to a lack of talent and skills required for AI implementation. 

But there is also a different lens – how AI impacts the entry level talent workforce and how to tackle reskilling in early careers. 

This is a clear example of recurring risk; considered serious in the early 2020s, people/skills have been low on the risk agenda for the last few years.

Cybercrime: the never-ending battle

• 23% of business leaders say they are unprepared for cyberattacks  
• 25% of CEOs cite cybercrime as a top three risk against 19% in 2024 

Increasingly, cyber attacks use the same technologies that businesses use to protect themselves. It therefore remains critical for organisations to prioritise a structured cybersecurity programme and regularly assess security controls.

Bridging the disconnect: The imperative for proactive risk management

Organisations are seeing a disconnect in how they are approaching risk management. Evolving risks such as cybercrime are still being treated as challenges for one function to deal with, rather than multiple layers of collaboration. 

Bridging this disconnect will require businesses to close the communication gaps across their C-suite and foster greater confidence in their ability to be proactive, in an ever-evolving risk landscape.