Australian businesses resilient to major disruptions

Australian businesses rank themselves as more resilient to major disruptions such as severe weather or geopolitical conflicts than the global average, according to research from SAP.

A global survey found that 70% of Australian business leaders say their organisations have effective plans to respond quickly to major incidents like natural disasters or cyber attacks, compared to 65% of global respondents.

According to the research, Australian respondents believe that labour and skill shortages will be their top risks to growth over the next year (56%), followed by economic volatility (52%), cyber attacks (45%) and supply chain disruption (44%).

But Australian businesses are confident in their current ability to manage their people, with 60% either extremely or very satisfied with their ability to develop skills across their workforce; and nearly as many being extremely or very satisfied with optimising their workforce through measures such as boosting productivity and ensuring people have the right skills for their roles.

Meanwhile 59% of businesses have effective plans to manage staffing to deal with shortages, while 72% have effective processes to prepare employees to adapt to new or different roles.

At the same time, 42% of respondents said they need to address technology improvement to be more responsive to change.

SAP Australia and New Zealand president and managing director Damien Bueno said the research shows there is a strong link between the resilience of a business and of its people.

“We are living in a world demanding new solutions and opportunities to solve these problems,” he said.

“This study should act as a wake-up call to organisations across Australia that we have to continue to invest in our people to foster curious cultures that support the exploration of ideas and new thinking that, when applied to big data and technology, not only safeguards their businesses but enables future growth.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Parradee Kietsirikul