The audit firm PwC is launching a new centre to help organisations prepare for, respond to, and recover from crisis.
The firm says crises are becoming more frequent and their impact more significant and widespread, whether economic losses from cybercrime or insured and uninsured losses from natural catastrophes.
PwC’s Global Crisis Centre convenes crisis professionals from across its worldwide member firms in 157 countries. These specialists can access and mobilise skills, experience and knowledge to help organisations handle the crises they face – from providing crisis strategies through to execution, to providing capabilities and tools to avoid crises, mitigate risk and manage impact, through to organising, analysing and resolving crises as quickly as possible.
Whether it’s a natural disaster such as the devastating earthquake in Nepal last year, a cyber-attack or an infectious disease (eg. the Zika or Ebola virus), a financial collapse or a product recall, regulatory violations or brand and reputational attacks – whatever and whenever a crisis occurs, “business as usual” becomes a thing of the past.
Melanie Butler, UK partner and Global Crisis Centre leader, PwC, said: “It’s not surprising that with the dynamic changes in society, from the speed of technological development and advanced regulatory changes, to changes in worldwide macroeconomics and the advance of urbanisation, that two-thirds of global CEOs believe that their business faces more threats today than three years ago and over half are concerned about their readiness to respond to a crisis.
“Uncertainty and risk are very real threats, and in this fast-moving social media world we have moved into, there is less and less time for organisations to respond to crises. So there is a real recognition of the need to have robust plans in place as the effect of a crisis on a business can be long-lasting, and to tackle and overcome crisis, you need expertise at every step.
“Our team is ready to hit the ground running, helping organisations avoid and prepare for crisis, respond quickly and confidently when a crisis occurs, and emerge stronger from the experience. We also support corporates and NGOs, as well as governments, acting as convenors between different groups and organisations, helping co-ordinate and join up efforts to deal with crises.”
What’s a crisis
According to the company, a ‘crisis’ may be defined as when one or more triggers or stress events significantly impact or threaten the continuity of ‘business as usual’. Seven core types of crisis have been identified – financial, legal, technological/intellectual, operational, human capital, global and reputational.
