AlixPartners Survey Reveals Major Preparedness Gaps with Regards to Geopolitical, Cybersecurity, and Regulatory Risks

A survey released by AlixPartners identifies major gaps in preparedness as well as benchmarks for where regional and industry peers stand. 

“Today’s businesses face many risks—a potential recession, rapidly changing regulatory policies, mounting geopolitical tensions, and AI-driven disruption,” says Louis Dudney, global leader, investigations, disputes and risk. “Amid this uncertainty, executives rightly anticipate an increase in financial crime and corporate litigation and are increasingly turning to new technologies to mitigate a wide variety of risks.” 

With the threat of an economic downturn now looming, 61% or more organizations are not sufficiently prepared to address critical risks, ranking themselves between "somewhat prepared" and "not prepared at all." That trend extends from data privacy (61%) and AI threats (68%) to geopolitical impacts (71%), supply chain disruptions (70%) and more. 

Key takeaways:  

• Over 60% believe financial crime will increase in the next 12 months. 63% are investing in technology to combat it, yet only 44% say their technology is very effective at detecting and analyzing risk factors.
• The majority of organizations are insufficiently prepared to adapt to international (71%), national (64%), and local (58%) regulatory changes. And with the sanctions landscape in flux, only about one-third feel sufficiently prepared to respond to potential changes.
• More than 60% of organizations are not adequately prepared to address cybersecurity incidents, data privacy breaches, and to keep pace with technological advancements. When it comes to AI, almost all (93%) are implementing AI into their business operations—but only about half have an AI leader or AI policies and guidance in place.
• Nearly 70% believe corporate litigation will increase in 2025. Among those who expect litigation to grow by more than 10%, about six in 10 plan to raise their outside counsel budget and/or increase engagement with those providers.