KPMG releases 2018 CEO outlook for Power & Utilities
KPMG recently released its 2018 KPMG CEO Outlook: Power & Utilities report, which found that 48 percent of CEOs believe that suffering a cyber attack is a matter of “when” and not “if.”
The report also found that many CEOs believe their organizations are not sufficiently prepared for cyber attacks. Fifty-eight percent of CEOs said they are prepared to identify threats, 68 percent are prepared to manage external stakeholders, and 63 percent are confident they can contain cyber attacks’ impact on strategic operations.
“Technology-driven opportunities in the P&U sector have also opened the door for significant risks and cyber threats which feature highly on CEOs and Board agendas,” Regina Mayor, global sector head for energy and natural resources at KPMG, said. “The levels of cyber defense and preparedness vary across the sector, but it is critical that organizations take the necessary steps to protect their systems or they risk becoming a target for potentially crippling attacks.”
This importance of cybersecurity and other technology-related issues is reflected in CEO’s beliefs about workforces, the report showed.
Fifty-nine percent of CEOs indicated that the role of cybersecurity specialists is the most important new role within their organizations. Fifty-seven percent said that the role of data scientists is the second most important role, and 54 percent said that digital transformation managers are the third most important role.
Approximately two-thirds of CEOs said that protecting customer data is critical to growth in their future customer base.
The report also stated that P&U CEOs are confident about future growth, finding 89 percent of CEOs in the survey are confident about the growth prospects for their company, and 94 percent anticipate increased headcount over the next three years.
The top strategies for achieving organizational growth objectives over the next three years include strategic alliances with third parties and organic growth. CEOs also plan to undertake actions, such as increasing focus on the development of technologies, increasing investment in disruption detection and innovation processes, using an online platform provider to make products and services available and setting up accelerator or incubator programs for start-ups.
“CEOs are excited about leveraging existing infrastructure and deploying new technologies that will benefit consumers,” Ted Surette, global power and utilities leader at KPMG, said. “We’re starting to see more collaboration outside of individual organizations to enable new ventures, especially in digital arenas like blockchain, Internet-of-Things, and platform solutions.”
