Key insights
- Disruption is now a constant: 63% of organisations have experienced major disruptions, with geopolitical and climate-related risks among the most prominent.
- Resilience gaps persist: Many organisations still operate with siloed capabilities, outdated scenarios and insufficient testing.
- Cyber, regulatory and competitive risks are rising: These risks are now among the top strategic concerns for business leaders.
- Preparedness requires more than plans: Effective resilience demands governance, leadership alignment and continuous testing.
- Culture, technology and leadership are critical enablers: Organisations prioritising these areas are strengthening long-term resilience.
Why organisational resilience matters
Resilience is no longer limited to crisis response. It is a strategic capability that underpins an organisation’s ability to anticipate, adapt, and thrive amid uncertainty.
Insights from the PwC 29th Global CEO Survey 2026 highlight that competition, cyber risk, and regulatory complexity are among the most pressing concerns for business leaders today. These risks are increasingly interconnected, amplifying their potential impact on financial performance, operations, and reputation.
Organisations must therefore move beyond reactive approaches and embed resilience into their operating model—aligning business priorities, technology capabilities, third-party dependencies, and workforce readiness.
Common challenges organisations face
Despite growing awareness, resilience capabilities often develop in silos. As a result, organisations may face:
Limited access to sufficient and timely information
Difficulty prioritising responses to disruptions
Ineffective internal and external communication
During disruption, these challenges are compounded by incomplete information, tight decision timelines and pressure to coordinate across multiple stakeholders, often leading to slower and less effective responses.
How to build resilience
- Assessing preparedness and readiness
- Preparing an effective resilience programme
- Resilience as a strategic imperative
Assessing preparedness and readiness
Organisations are increasingly strengthening their ability to assess preparedness in response to a rapidly evolving risk landscape. This includes evaluating existing business continuity plans, disaster recovery capabilities and governance structures to ensure alignment with current risks and business priorities.
Many organisations have made progress in formalising these elements; however, gaps remain in scenario coverage, testing frequency and alignment across functions. Without regular review and realistic testing, resilience capabilities may appear robust on paper but prove insufficient during actual disruptions.
Key takeaway:
Preparedness requires continuous assessment, realistic scenario testing and alignment across business, technology and governance functions.
Preparing an effective resilience programme
An effective resilience programme goes beyond documented plans and requires integration across the organisation. It should align business objectives, ICT capabilities, third-party dependencies and workforce readiness within a cohesive operating model.
Challenges often arise when resilience initiatives operate in silos or are not regularly updated. Misalignment between business needs and technology recovery timelines, limited resources and gaps in expertise can hinder execution. To remain effective, resilience programmes must be adaptive, regularly reviewed and embedded into broader organisational strategy.
Key takeaway:
Resilience programmes must be integrated, continuously updated and aligned with business strategy to remain effective in a changing risk environment.
Resilience as a strategic imperative
Resilience is increasingly recognised as a core component of long-term business strategy rather than a purely operational concern. Organisations are prioritising investments in culture, leadership development and technology to strengthen their ability to anticipate, respond to and adapt to disruption.
Building resilience also involves embedding awareness across the workforce, equipping leaders with crisis management capabilities and leveraging digital tools to enhance agility and decision-making. By positioning resilience as a strategic priority, organisations can protect stakeholder trust, maintain continuity and create sustainable value.
Key takeaway:
Embedding resilience into strategy enables organisations to move from reactive response to proactive, long-term value creation.
Strategic focus areas for resilience
Amidst uncertainty, organisations recognise the need for thorough preparation to maintain business continuity. As they look to the future, companies are prioritising:
- Resilience programme: regularly update and adapt programmes to remain relevant and effective
- Resilient culture and awareness: embed a shared mindset, recognising resilience is driven by people
- Technology enablement: leverage advanced digital tools to anticipate risks and sustain operations
- Upskilling future leaders: develop leadership capabilities for crisis decision-making and coordination
- Resilience metrics and competencies: strengthen measurement and capabilities over time
