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PwC’s 21st CEO Survey has shown that nearly three quarters, representing 74 percent of private-company CEOs are lagging in digital talent push. The CEOs covered are concerned about the availability of digital talent amongst their workforce and 50 percent say it is very or somewhat difficult to attract digital talent.
Operating in a world of growing complexity and wide-ranging risks, private-company CEOs are freer to operate with a degree of agility, flexibility, and pragmatism than many of their counterparts in public companies.
However, cyber threats, global market uncertainty and a shortage of digital talent are still key concerns. Despite these concerns, CEOs are optimistic about the future. In fact, 85 percent of them say they are somewhat confident or very confident about their organisation’s prospects for revenue growth over the next 12 months.
Another leading concern is the uncertain future of trading relationships, caused by reasons such as the UK’s impending exit from the European Union and rising protectionism in the US, which is driving private companies to seek new markets.
Sixty-seven percent of the private companies that made a significant acquisition within the past 12 months did so mainly to gain access to a new market.
Although private-company CEOs see how digital technologies offer their companies new opportunities, they also see how it creates new threats and wonder if they are prepared for the changes to come.
In particular, 57 percent of CEOs of family-owned companies say attracting digital talent is very or somewhat difficult, in contrast to only 48 percent of private equity-backed companies who report similar levels of difficulty.
At the same time, though, private companies trail other types of companies in developing and employing coherent strategies to attract digital talent, only 39 percent of private-company CEOs say their organisations have implemented continuous learning and development programs, compared with 46 percent of CEOs of publicly listed companies and only 14 percent are relocating their operations to be closer to digital talent pools.
Cyber threats are one of the largest concerns for private-company CEOs, with 39 percent citing cyber threats as the leading threat facing their organisation, followed closely by the scarcity of key skills to mitigate those risks.
On balancing privacy and transparency in a changing world, participants in the survey clearly established that they value their relative autonomy, enabling a greater choice around transparency of culture, internal policies, strategies, external reporting and other areas of their business.
OLALEKAN IPELE
