Technological disruption is top priority for nearly 70 percent of UAE CEOs in 2019, the fifth edition of the KPMG CEO Outlook Report reveals.
The report also states that As many as seven out of ten UAE CEOs say that rather than waiting to be disrupted, their organization is actively disrupting its sector, up from six out of ten in 2018. Nader Haffar, Chairman & CEO KPMG Lower Gulf, said: “This year’s KPMG CEO Outlook report shows that UAE CEOs are championing digital reinvention, while navigating other big issues like economic territorialism and climate change.”
“To weather the challenges that lie ahead, they may have to fundamentally transform their operating models and build an agile, customer-focused and connected enterprise with a strong workforce at the helm,” he added.
The report is based on a survey of 1,300 CEOs in 11 of the world’s largest economies. The UAE findings are based on responses of 35 UAE-based CEOs.
The report found decreasing confidence levels in the global economy’s three-year growth prospects among global and UAE CEOs. In the UK for example, CEOs’ confidence in the global economy dropped to 43 percent in 2019, from 77 percent in 2018.
UAE CEOs’ confidence in the global economy dropped to 63 percent in 2019 from 92 percent in 2018. However, their confidence in their industry’s 3-year growth prospects rose to 91 percent from 83 percent last year, while the confidence in their company rose to 94 percent from 83 percent in 2018.
63 percent of UAE CEOs said in the 2019 report that agility is fundamental for business to succeed against a challenging economic backdrop, while in 2018, the number was 71 percent. Globally, the focus on agility rose to 69 percent in 2019, from 59 percent in 2018.
The biggest threats to growth for UAE CEOs are emerging/disruptive technology risk (17 percent), cyber security risk (14 percent), environmental/climate change risk (14 percent), operational risk (14 percent) and return to territorialism (14 percent).
Vikas Papriwal, Head of Advisory Services at KPMG pointed out that impact of emerging and disruptive technologies impacting business models topping the list was “not surprising.”
“As more and more companies are becoming online savvy or accessing customers and data online through different channels using technology like blockchain and alternative investment remain relevant and ahead of the game, this is also proving to be a significant challenge for companies which are probably not adopting fast enough,” Papriwal said.
However, the biggest headwinds for growth for global CEOs were environmental/climate change risk (21 percent), emerging/disruptive technology risk (19 percent), return to territorialism (16 percent), cyber security risk (14 percent) and operational risk (14 percent).
The report also showed that 9 percent of UAE CEOs (compared to 16 percent globally) said they have already implemented artificial intelligence to automate their processes, while 74 percent (compared to 31 percent globally) said they are at pilot stage and 17 percent (compared to 53 percent globally) are undertaking limited implementation.
UAE CEOs who believe a strong cyber strategy is critical to engendering trust with their key stakeholders stood at 57 percent in 2019 (compared to 68 percent globally), down from 63 percent in 2018 (55 percent globally).
