Australian firms lag in resilience as threats compound, report finds
At a time of growing cyber threats, fractured supply chains and economic turbulence, Australian firms are lagging behind global peers in terms of resilience, BDO has warned.
BDO’s global Tectonic States report found that 62 per cent of Australian business leaders ranked resilience as their top organisational priority, compared to 78 per cent of leaders in counterparts such as the UK and Spain.
Nick Kervin, BDO Australia national digital leader, said that Australian firms had appeared slower to pivot from reactive risk management to future-focused transformation.
“In this environment, resilience isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the baseline for competitiveness,” Kervin said.
“We’re seeing international markets move quickly to embed agility and security into their operations, while too many Australian businesses are still stuck in a holding pattern – nervous about the risks, but not yet acting decisively to mitigate them.”
As trade fragmentation, cyber security threats and supply chain disruptions threaten the global economic outlook, BDO said Australian firms lack the skills, infrastructure and strategy to remain resilient.
The report found that over half (52 per cent) of global business leaders were preparing for a more fragmented world defined by open conflicts, growing protectionism and regulatory uncertainty.
Almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of leaders agreed that organisations had to prepare for a range of possible futures to succeed in an uncertain and volatile operating environment.
Amid rising threats and technological advancements, BDO’s survey found that leaders’ priorities had shifted notably since 2023.
While recessions, skills shortages and high energy costs were top concerns in 2023, leaders in 2025 were most worried about increased competition, cyber risks and outdated tech infrastructure.
Over two-thirds (68 per cent) of leaders said that technological advances had intensified cyber risks and generated new forms of cyber crime.
Niek Dekker, VP of marketing at payment fraud prevention firm Eftsure, told Accounting Times in March that cyber criminals were using AI to speed up and boost the sophistication of cyber attacks.
Australian businesses lost almost $84 million in 2023–24 to business email compromise (BEC) scams, the Australian Signals Directorate's annual cyber threat report found. The ACCC found $91.6 million was lost to payment redirection scams in 2024.
Over three-quarters of leaders expected their organisation’s cyber security threat profile to worsen over the next 12 months, BDO said. Concerns related to data breaches and ransomware were also holding back investment in AI.
Kervin said firms would need to innovate to boost their resilience amid a shifting geopolitical and technological landscape.
“You can’t build resilience if you’re afraid to innovate,” he said.
“If we continue to delay AI adoption, we risk missing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lift Australia’s productivity, which already lags well behind other OECD economies.”
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