A new long-term reality for businesses, says latest PwC CEO survey

PwC has released the findings of their latest CEO Pulse Survey. This ongoing research, from 67 countries including Ireland, has gleaned the views of nearly 700 business leaders for how the COVID pandemic has impacted their business and what are their main priorities for the months and years ahead.

The key findings are:

• Recovery now expected to take more than a year, which Irish C-suite foresaw back in June, earlier than global counterparts.
• 60% of Irish CEOs are of the view that global economic growth will decline in the next 12 months, at the same time a similar proportion (60%) are ‘somewhat confident’ about their organisation’s revenue growth prospects
• A whole new business landscape is emerging with some key trends here to stay such as remote collaboration, automation, climate change mitigation and supply chain safety
• It’s all about digitisation: 23% of Irish CEOs ranked development of digital products as their single highest business priority
• People are the priority: An overwhelming majority (97%) will protect their people including well-being initiatives – companies will be even more employee-centric with Irish CEOs taking a lead on prioritising flexibility
• Ireland’s leaders seen the future as green: 63% believe climate change mitigation will maintain its momentum, while global CEOs are at 47%
• A third of respondents said that they had decreased leadership financial compensation (Ireland:33%; Global: 32%)
• Half (50%) of Irish CEOs believe that State intervention is a temporary feature (Global: 57%)
• Over one in ten (13%) Irish CEOs said that their organisation declined Government supports for their businesses thus far during the pandemic (Global: 20%). 

“Business leaders now need to rethink how they operate in the future.  They may need to rethink everything.  What’s critical now is that they use the important knowledge they’ve gained about their organisations effectively to balance short term recovery, with long term rethinking of their strategy.  They need to establish a flexible business and workplace plan, invest in digital tools and take their commitment to agility and innovation to the next level.  And with a no-deal Brexit looking increasingly likely, businesses also need to continue to plan for all Brexit eventualities.”

Recovery to take more than a year: Global pessimism, but local realism

In June, over a quarter of Irish finance leaders (CFOs) told us that they believed it would take more than a year for their businesses to recover from the pandemic, longer than for any other country in the world. According to this latest CEO Pulse survey, business leaders are downbeat about global economic growth with global CEOs being slightly more cautious when it comes to future revenue growth. Six out of ten (60%) Irish business leaders are of the view that global economic growth will decline in the next 12 months (Global: 65%), but still a third (34%) expect global economic growth to improve (Global; 30%).  At the same time, 60% of Irish participants are ‘somewhat confident’ about their organisations’ prospects for revenue growth in the year ahead albeit global businesses are slightly more cautious (45%).

It’s all about digitisation: business operations and digital products are highest on the CEO agenda

The survey highlights that Irish business leaders, like their international peers, are responding head-on to the shifting trends as a result of COVID-19 and are adjusting their business models.  Irish CEOs, like their global counterparts, are focused on making their organisations more digital and virtual. A quarter (23%) ranked digitising their core business operations and processes as their highest-priority business model change following COVID-19.  A further one in five (20%) said that their number one priority is to focus on adding digital products and services.

The survey also highlights a whole new business landscape is emerging. Two-thirds (67%) of Irish CEOs believe that shifts towards remote collaboration and automation will have a lasting impact on their business models as a result of the pandemic – although more global CEOs think so (76% and 78% respectively).  With Brexit high on the agenda and Ireland’s high dependency on exports and imports, 63% of Irish respondents believe shifts in supply chain safety are here to stay (Global: 58%). Significantly, more Irish respondents are of the view that climate change mitigation (63%) is a lasting trend (Global: 47%).

Ciarán Kelly, Advisory Leader, PwC Ireland, said: “The survey findings illustrate the ways in which CEOs are adapting to a new reality.  In the early days of the pandemic, many business leaders quickly realised that the digital capabilities of their organisation would determine its ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.  This awareness has helped speed the adoption of digitisation initiatives, among both employees and customers.  With new business models emerging from the crisis, the rapid adoption of next-generation technologies together with the new approaches will set a precedent for organisations to navigate future cycles of challenge and prosperity.”

People are priority: Clear value in making businesses more employee-centric with Ireland taking a lead on flexibility

The survey reveals that amongst the enduring changes, people are the priority.  An overwhelming 97% of Irish CEOs confirmed their intention to protect employee health and safety would be a lasting result; 70% said that conducting well-being initiatives will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Nearly half (47%) stated that maximising employee retention will shape their future business models – ahead of global peers (36%).

It is not surprising, therefore, that Irish CEOs believe that their actions to combat the pandemic will serve them with a greater positive impact on their long-term reputation.  For example, nearly half (48%) said that protecting employee health and safety will have the single greatest positive impact on their organisation’s long-term reputation (Global: 41%).

CEOs also plan to develop a more flexible and employee orientated workforce. Nearly a quarter (23%) ranked remote working as their highest-priority business model change – higher than global counterparts (15%).  13% ranked expanding employee health and safety and well-being programmes as their single top priority.

Ciara Fallon, Director, PwC Ireland People & Organisation, added: “As well as being the right thing to do, employers who focus on creating a safe workplace – whether in the office or offsite – will earn trust, build loyalty and enhance their organisation’s reputation. Any thoughtful and purposeful efforts to improve safety in the current context have the power to act as a true differentiator, in terms of both the employee and customer experience.

“The survey also highlights that the shift to more flexible ways of working has many benefits, but not without practical implications for how companies approach benefits such as employee well-being supports and development. CEOs know that how they treat employees goes to the heart of what they represent and feeds their reputation. And we could see this emerge as a new distinctive platform for companies – building their brand and reputation on how they attend to employee safety and wellbeing – in a way that it may have been taken for granted before.”

A third of respondents said that they had decreased leadership financial compensation (Ireland:33%; Global: 32%) as part of their long-term business model changes.  One in ten (10%) say their highest priority is to become more lean and automated by decreasing headcount or replacing humans (Global: 14%).

What’s next for Ireland?

As part of the survey, CEOs were asked what’s on their agenda for the future.

Given Ireland’s dependency on the import and export of goods and manufacturing equipment, it is no surprise to see that 63% of CEOs are hoping that the maintenance of supply chain continuity and dependability is a priority.

In line with Ireland’s shift toward the environmental agenda, 63% of leaders locally believe that ongoing mitigation of climate change is going to be a shift that will maintain the momentum that it gained during the last six months. Only 47% of those polled internationally shared that point of view, with one-quarter stating the trend towards climate change mitigation will be a short-term phenomenon

In Ireland, there is less of an appetite compared to international leaders to create low-density workplaces – only half (50%) of respondents said it would endure, compared to 61% in the rest of the world.  At the same time, a similar proportion (47%) also see any move towards de-urbanisation as temporary (Global: 38%).

Half (50%) of Irish CEOs believe that State intervention is a temporary feature (Global: 57%). At the same time, one in four (43%) believe that Government support will be sustained – significantly more than international peers (30%). The survey reveals that over one in ten (13%) declined Government supports for their businesses during the pandemic (Global: 20%).

More about Irish Tech News and Business Showcase here.

FYI the ROI for you is => Irish Tech News now gets over 1.5 million monthly views, and up to 900k monthly unique visitors, from over 160 countries. We have over 860,000 relevant followers on Twitter on our various accounts & were recently described as Ireland’s leading online tech news site and Ireland’s answer to TechCrunch, so we can offer you a good audience!

Since introducing desktop notifications a short time ago, which notify readers directly in their browser of new articles being published, over 50,000 people have now signed up to receive them ensuring they are instantly kept up to date on all our latest content. Desktop notifications offer a unique method of serving content directly to verified readers and bypass the issue of content getting lost in people’s crowded news feeds.

Drop us a line if you want to be featured, guest post, suggest a possible interview or just let us know what you would like to see more of in our future articles. We’re always open to new and interesting suggestions for informative and different articles.

If you would like to be featured in our podcast series drop us a line & don’t forget to sign up for notifications for our latest episodes and follow us on Twitter, Linkedin, SoundCloud, iTunes or your own favourite podcast platform.

Contact us, by email, twitter or whatever social media works for you and hopefully, we can share your story too and reach our global audience. We are agile, responsive, quick and talented, we look forward to working with you!

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at [email protected] or on Twitter: @SimonCocking