Survey Highlights The Biggest Risks Facing NZ Businesses

Cyber breaches, slow economic recovery and business interruptions are among the biggest risks keeping business owners up at night (full list below).

After placing second in the 2021 survey, cyber attacks now rank as the number one business risk for Asia Pacific. This speaks to the pervasiveness of cyber risk and mirrors a global trend of growing awareness of the cyber threat landscape, as evidenced by the steady upward progression of the risk in the top 10 rankings over recent years.

This concern is particularly relevant in the New Zealand market where we’ve seen a string of high-profile cyber breaches in recent years, suggesting that even some of the country’s largest organisations have vulnerabilities.

One of the most interesting findings is what didn't make the list, with climate not mentioned in the top concerns.
 

This comes somewhat surprisingly, as climate change will have a direct impact on some of the concerns that did rank, including business interruption, changing market trends, supply chain/distribution failure and regulatory/legislative changes.

Aon NZ CEO Melissa Cantell has spoken to these findings, saying:

"With cyber risks, economic recovery and business interruption identified as the top risks organisations are facing today, there is a compelling need for a shift in mindsets around being better prepared. What is surprising are the risks that are unaccounted for in leaders' assessments of the challenges they must address, such as climate risk. Climate is not an emerging risk, but an urgent one, with increasingly monumental implications for businesses of all sizes. What leaders need now are insights from advanced analytics and modelling alongside innovative solutions that will help them make better decisions today and protect them in the future."

The top 10 business risks for Asia Pacific are:
 

1. Cyber Attacks/Data Breaches
2. Economic Slowdown/Slow Recovery
3. Business Interruption
4. Failure to Attract/Retain Top Talent
5. Rapidly Changing Market Trends
6. Supply Chain/Distribution Failure
7. Regulatory/Legislative Changes
8. Increasing Competition
9. Failure to Innovate/Meet Customer Needs
10. Commodity Price Risk/Scarcity of Materials

APAC insights are linked here for your convenience. Also attached is the full report.

https://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/2402/aonglobalriskmanagementsurveykeyfindings2023.pdf

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