For many of us, looking to the future can be described with a range of emotions. Looking forward to a life-changing event, such as a birth or a wedding, may instil us with a sense of hope, joy, and perhaps even a little anxiety. Being able to reason with and rationalise the possible outcomes can often help foster a sense of resilience – a capacity to respond to change, even if such change is challenging.
How do businesses prepare for the future? For some, preparation is built into their core business operations. For others, a qualification such as an MBA online may give staff the skills necessary to prepare for uncertainty.
According to data published by the National Retail Association, business failure rates are at a fifteen-year high, emphasising just how tough it is for businesses to succeed in an ever-changing world. Understanding how a business can prepare to adapt and survive in a crisis may just mean the difference between success and failure. Let’s dive into today’s uncertain world and how adopting resilient practices may help a business succeed in the long term.
An Era Defined By Uncertainty
Let’s face it – if there’s one thing that describes the modern business landscape, it’s uncertainty. While businesses face many traditional challenges – supply chain constraints and labour challenges – we’re rapidly entering an era where world-changing events are becoming near-annual occurrences that have substantial knock-on effects on global economies.
Supply chains, for example, are often so intertwined that significant local weather events can have global repercussions. Take, for example, the global supply chain of computer components such as hard drives. These components are essential for the operation of many modern electronic devices. However, global manufacturing of these parts is primarily done in a single nation – Thailand, where some 80% of the world’s hard disks are produced.
In 2011, severe flooding during the 2011 monsoon season in Thailand caused a massive humanitarian disaster. This developing nation was hit hard, with over 10,000 factories shut down and over half a million workers displaced. The weather also significantly impacted the broader computing sector, resulting in delays that impacted major hard drive manufacturers for more than a year after this catastrophic event.
The world continues to become more volatile, whether through the challenges posed by international conflict, the ongoing threat of climate change, political uncertainty, or once-in-a-century events such as pandemics. In a sense, we are well beyond entering an era of uncertainty – in fact, it’s now just a part of our everyday lives.
Managing Operational Risks
For many businesses, understanding the existing risks often becomes the first step towards developing a resilient organisation. A business process such as a risk assessment can help identify and document a company’s challenges so they can be reviewed and addressed regularly.
While operational documents can often be challenging to assemble, they help identify potential risks and kickstart a conversation about what steps a business should take to respond to perceived and actual risks. Think of it like an appointment with a local GP – sometimes, we can feel well but have underlying issues that can only be detected through tests and observation.
Of course, it’s important to remember that identifying risks is often an ongoing exercise. Qualifications such as an MBA can impart the skills necessary to identify risks accurately. At the same time, an awareness of current news affairs can help to provide crucial context on challenges currently impacting businesses.
Consider, for example, if a news article appeared discussing how unsecured devices have resulted in the hacking of corporate systems. A risk team, aware of that information, may respond by putting out an advisory on using external storage mediums. This is just one example of how current events can impact business practices – responding to the risks present in an industry.
Monitoring and responding to changing risks can often mean the difference between the success and failure of a company on a knife edge, particularly as threats continue to evolve. As Benjamin Franklin, renowned polymath and one of the United States’ Founding Fathers, once said (although some sources dispute it), “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.“
Planning For Challenges
One of the challenges often associated with creating effective risk management strategies is how businesses forecast and envisage the challenges they may face going forward. Risk management usually involves preparing and planning for not only known difficulties but also the potential of unknown events that may impact a company.
Take, for example, newly popularised platforms that conduct tasks using the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. While they are potentially useful in many work environments, they have also opened up opportunities for misuse – with AI being used to generate voice clones, with potentially devastating consequences.
Identifying and mitigating risks is one challenge; another is ensuring that any developed risk frameworks are reviewed regularly to ensure they are up-to-date and relevant to addressing current trends and challenges. Thinking outside the box can be challenging, but it can lead to substantial rewards if executed successfully.
The Benefits of Resilience
When applied correctly within the workforce, resilience can offer substantial benefits. Whether it’s enhanced cyber awareness, increased logistics productivity, or increased redundancy within operations, resilience can often have understated or unrecognised benefits without further inspection.
Take the impact of cybersecurity events, such as hacking and malware. With a risk management framework identifying the risks, eLearning in place to support affected staff, and a broader awareness of the security challenges within an organisation, resilient business practices can help a business respond proactively – and even prevent some reactive incidents.
For example, awareness of the risks and a focus on building awareness within the company allowed employees at Prague Airport to thwart cyber attacks on their IT infrastructure, preventing bad actors from taking down the Czech Republic’s largest international airport. It’s just one example of how preparing for challenges can help make a difference—and can, in some cases, help mitigate the impacts that may occur when highly disruptive events happen.
It must be said – that today’s ever-changing world presents a range of threats for businesses. From known challenges, like the emergence of climate change threats, to the rapid emergence of unknown risks, businesses must be aware of and empowered to tackle the challenges they face.
By developing resilient practices within a workforce – from risk management to fostering an agile workforce—businesses can be empowered with the skills and knowledge necessary to respond to even the most complex threats. After all, if you’re aware of the challenges that you face, you’re more likely to be able to respond to them, right?
