While risks from climate to geopolitics are higher than ever, Irish CEOs are confident about revenue growth and their firms’ resilience in the year ahead.
The majority (95%) of Irish business leaders are confident about their organisation’s revenue growth in the next twelve months, new research from PwC indicates.
Geopolitical risk (41%) is the top threat for Irish businesses, followed by macro-economic volatility (28%) and climate risks (18%).
“We see more and more business leaders acknowledging the need to reinvent their businesses for sustained success”
Almost three-quarters (73%) of Irish business leaders are of the view that their organisation is impacted by business model disruption to a ‘large’ or ‘very large’ extent.
ESG initiatives are a source of competitive advantage
“Despite business model disruption, the survey shows that Irish business leaders are confident about their organisation’s revenue growth and resilience,” said Enda McDonagh, managing parter at PwC Ireland.
“It will also be important that AI and GenAI are responsibly deployed with human-centric outcomes”
“Business leaders recognise the need to be highly adaptable and adjust strategies to the pace and scale of change facing their businesses. In particular, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), climate change and transformation are high on the agenda as organisations look to boost performance, taking advantage of new technologies, such as AI and GenAI.”
His colleague David McGee, ESG leader at PwC, added: “The survey confirms that the majority of Irish business leaders recognise ESG initiatives to be a powerful source of competitive advantage. Prioritising long-term benefits over short-term gains is critical. But there is no time to lose. Organisations need to integrate sustainability into their strategy, measure progress and adapt continuously. The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is soon coming into force and will foster greater transparency, comparability and confidence in ESG data.”
According to the survey, the majority (55%) of Irish business leaders believe that ESG will be a source of competitive advantage for their organisation.
Digital transformation through GenAI
Almost all (98%) of the survey respondents believe that AI and GenAI can expedite transformation in their organisation over the next twelve months.
“Business model disruption continues to be a challenge in the boardroom,” said Amy Ball, Transformation Lead at PwC Ireland.
“We see more and more business leaders acknowledging the need to reinvent their businesses for sustained success. That includes embedding a culture of continuous innovation and using technology to transform the organisation, modernise legacy systems, enhance customer experiences and power data-driven decision-making.
Real leadership skills are also needed to have all of the workforce moving in the same direction. It will also be important that AI and GenAI are responsibly deployed with human-centric outcomes.”
Main image at top: David McGee, ESG Leader; Trish Johnston, Assurance Leader; Amy Ball, Transformation Leader and Enda McDonagh, Managing Partner
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