CEOs increasingly concerned about threats and readiness to respond to crisis

• PwC launches new Global Crisis Centre 

The demand is evident; with two-thirds of over 1,400 global CEOs believing that their businesses face more threats today than three years ago and over half concerned about their readiness to respond to a crisis¹, PwC is launching a new centre to help organisations prepare for, respond to, and recover from crisis.

Crises are becoming more frequent and their impact more significant and widespread – for example, economic losses from cybercrime in 2014 were estimated at $375 billion and insured and uninsured losses from natural catastrophes in the same year at $194 billion.²

As an international virtual centre of excellence, PwC’s Global Crisis Centre convenes battle-hardened crisis professionals from across our worldwide network of member firms in 157 countries. This team of PwC specialists can quickly access and mobilise the best skills, experience and knowledge to help organisations handle the crises they face - from providing crisis strategies through to execution, to providing capabilities and tools to avoid crises, mitigate risk and manage impact, through to organising, analysing and resolving crises as quickly as possible.

Whether it’s a natural disaster such as the devastating earthquake in Nepal last year, a cyber-attack or an infectious disease (e.g. the Zika or Ebola virus), a financial collapse or a product recall, regulatory violations or brand and reputational attacks -  whatever and whenever a crisis occurs, “business as usual” becomes a thing of the past.

Melanie Butler, UK partner and Global Crisis Centre leader, PwC, said:

“It’s not surprising that with the dynamic changes in society, from the speed of technological development and advanced regulatory changes, to changes in worldwide macroeconomics and the advance of urbanisation, that two-thirds of global CEOs believe that their business faces more threats today than three years ago and over half are concerned about their readiness to respond to a crisis.

“Uncertainty and risk are very real threats, and in this fast-moving social media world we have moved into, there is less and less time for organisations to respond to crises. So there is a real recognition of the need to have robust plans in place as the effect of a crisis on a business can be long-lasting, and to tackle and overcome crisis, you need expertise at every step.

“Our team is ready to hit the ground running, helping organisations avoid and prepare for crisis, respond quickly and confidently when a crisis occurs, and emerge stronger from the experience.

“We also support corporates and NGOs, as well as governments, acting as convenors between different groups and organisations, helping co-ordinate and join up efforts to deal with crises.”

Ends

Notes to Editors:

¹According to PwC’s 19^th Annual Global CEO Survey

² Source: Swiss Re; McAfee; CSIS

A ‘crisis’ may be defined as when one or more triggers or stress events significantly impact or threaten the continuity of ‘business as usual’. Seven core types of crisis have been identified - financial, legal, technological/intellectual, operational, human capital, global and reputational.

PwC’s Global Crisis Centre provides a coordinated end-to-end set of global solutions that help organisations before, during, and after crises strike.

Prepare: risk management and crisis planning services

We help them prepare for crisis by giving them the strategies, capabilities and tools to avoid it, mitigate it, or manage it.

Respond: crisis response services

We enable businesses to react to a crisis quickly and effectively. We help them organise, analyse, and resolve crises as efficiently as possible, while taking the critical steps to preserve valuable data and information.

Recover: recovery & remediation services

We help our clients emerge from the crisis stronger than they were before by getting back to business, learning from the experience, and capitalising on the “new normal”.

For more details of PwC’s Global Crisis Centre, visit: www.pwc.com/crisis

About the Global Crisis Centre

For the Global Crisis Centre, trust and problem-solving are central to what we do.

By helping organisations prepare for, respond to and recover from crisis, we stay true to this purpose. Standing by clients gives them confidence that they have somebody by their side to help them confront the crisis and solve the problems they face. In turn, they can reassure their own clients, communities and stakeholders that they are able to manage crisis effectively.                             

Getting ready for and reacting effectively to crisis helps them to emerge stronger. That builds trust in the systems that are critical to society.

 

Gill Carson
PwC | Communications
Office: 020 7212 1391 | Mobile: 07837 285466
Email: [email protected]
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
twitter: @gill_carson
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