COUNTRY FOCUS
Vikas Papriwal is Head of Markets at KPMG Lower Gulf.
The three
risks that
CEOs in the
UAE worry
about the
most are
regulatory,
talent and
reputation
risk.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
UAE CEOs have a more nuanced
view of their organisation’s
approach to innovation, a key
enabler in the global CEO survey.
Almost half of UAE CEOs say their
organisation has a foundational
or ad hoc approach to innovation.
This means innovation occurs
on some projects or within some
departments but there is no
repeatable approach, formula or
standardised tools, in short, there
are few opportunities for adaptive
replication, Only 35% of global
CEOs felt that their organisation
had a strategic approach to
innovation, a small improvement on
the UAE’s 29%.
Today’s top business leaders know
that long-term success requires
higher levels of business agility than
ever before. 43% of global CEOs
say that the best way to deliver
faster is to streamline internal
processes, double what KPMG see in
the UAE. One reason that the figure
is so much lower in the UAE seems
to be that organisations feel that
their internal processes are already
streamlined, although it may simply
be that there is a lack of awareness
of leading practice.
Technology risks
In the UAE, there is a growing
awareness of the risks that cyber
poses, but there does seem to be a
feeling that this may be a risk that
can never be completely mitigated.
The three risks that CEOs in the
UAE worry about the most are
regulatory, talent and reputation
risk. The top three risks globally are
cyber 30%, regulatory 28% and
emerging technology 26%. Clearly,
different economic sectors are more
or less threatened by particular
risks. But it is significant that the
UAE’s risk registers are so different
to the global norms. There does
seem to be a growing awareness of
the interconnection between cyber
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