Future disruption inevitable, and having a plan in place is key to strengthen resilience, says PwC’s Global Crisis Survey 2021

• 83 percent of Malaysian respondents to this year’s survey said their business was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic

• Only 47 percent said they were well-prepared for the crisis 

• 67 percent felt technology has promoted their ability to gather and use the right information for decision-making in addressing the crisis

5th April 2021 - One year after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, Malaysian businesses shared their response to the most disruptive global crisis of our lifetime in PwC’s second Global Crisis Survey.  

The past year has underscored that the challenge of crisis management is not about predicting the future, but dealing with the unpredictable. Businesses must focus on building a foundation of resilience to weather whatever comes next.

83% of respondents to this year’s survey said their business was negatively impacted by the pandemic, with only 47% saying they were well-prepared for the crisis. Within their organisations, they felt that the areas that were most negatively impacted are in supply chain and operations, their workforce, and finance and liquidity.  

Organisations that fared well were more likely to have a response plan in place and rely on a dedicated crisis team to drive their response to the crisis.

“The survey data and insights provide an important snapshot to a unique moment in time, and with the benefit of hindsight, we’re able to draw a roadmap for rethinking and strengthening resilience capabilities,” said Alex Tan, Cyber, Forensics and Crisis Leader, PwC Malaysia. 

“Resilience is foundational to how an organisation handles disruption and creates new opportunities. The pandemic is likely to have been the first time organisations put their crisis response plans to the test, with 25% of Malaysian respondents saying they did not have a plan in place before COVID-19. Learning how businesses responded to the crisis is key to emerging stronger from the next one. Reinforcing their plans and establishing a crisis command centre to facilitate the flow of information between senior leadership and employees as well as with customers and suppliers are all integral parts to preparing for the inevitable.”

PwC’s survey also reveals that organisations that took steps to enhance technology have reported that they are in a better place in terms of organisational resilience. 58% felt they had the right technology in place to help facilitate the coordination of their crisis response team, and 67% felt technology has promoted their organisation’s ability to gather and use the right information for decision-making. 

“Businesses are realising that investments in technology are not only a strategy for growth, but in times of crises, they provide valuable insights to help leaders understand what is happening across the organisation. Access to data means they are able to make swift decisions to ensure operations carry on with contingencies in place, or resources are redirected to more critical areas. This helps businesses pivot more quickly, so they spend less time reacting and more time on higher value recovery activities.” says Alex. 

Based on the findings from the survey, PwC has collated three ways companies can better prepare for crisis:

• Having the right building blocks in place. Investing in technology is important, but employees need to be equipped with the right skills for a solid crisis response. This includes technical skills such as data management, data analytics, and security intelligence and social skills such as critical thinking and project management.

• Building trust in resilience. Engaging your external stakeholders regularly, from shareholders and your supply chain partners, to your customers, lets them know that you’re prepared to face challenges head on, and gives them confidence to continue supporting your business.

• Becoming crisis-agnostic. Review and refine your response in real time during the crisis, and conduct post-action reviews to act on lessons learnt. Assess your overall plan regularly to ensure that your crisis response plan continues to be relevant as your business model, workforce strategy and supply chain evolves.

Business leaders believe they had taken steps to support their teams: 77% say that their organisations considered employee wellness and their needs during the pandemic. Supporting  staff health promotes safe, engaged employees, which in turn, can only be good for business. 

“As Malaysian organisations look forward to recovery and better growth prospects ahead, evaluating how the crisis was handled, enhancing their business continuity and crisis response plans and developing resilience programmes may get lost in the shuffle of day-to-day business,” Alex continues.

“But leaders should not let the lessons learnt in this past year disappear in the rearview mirror. Building resilience into your organisational DNA requires addressing it as a priority. And more importantly, your plans should be ‘crisis-agnostic’, meaning it continues to be relevant to future crises. This is the hallmark of a resilient organisation.”

ENDS