British risk report focuses on terror, cyber, and war threats

A British government report on pressing risks to that nation focuses mainly on the threats of terrorist actions, cyber attacks, and wars between other countries, ranking those events on their potential impact on the UK’s safety, security, and critical systems at a national level.

The National Risk Register (NRR) report is the external version of the government’s classified National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA) analysis. It is not targeted at the general public, but at first responders (called emergency practitioners), at experts and academics, and at businesses and those who operate critical national infrastructure (CNI) such as supply chain and logistics functions.

The NRR includes information about 89 risks, within 9 themes: terrorism; cyber; state threats; geographic and diplomatic; accidents and systems failures; natural and environmental hazards; human, animal and plant health; societal; and conflict and instability. According to its authors, the purpose of the report is to ensure the UK is prepared for a broad range of events by setting out a “reasonable worst-case scenario” for each risk, enabling relevant bodies to undertake proportionate planning.

However, while the threats described in the report may be frightening, business leaders should not view them as paralyzing, according to Marco Limena, CEO of Board International, a Swiss vendor of business planning software tools.

"Business leaders should not worry about each of the updated Register’s individual 89 threats. But they should look at the Cabinet Office’s report as a whole, and as an ongoing reminder that ‘the era of continuous disruption is here.’ Those seven words are meant as a wake-up call for organizations to continuously adapt and find new capabilities and efficiencies to deal with today’s challenging environment,” Limena said.

To survive in the era of continuous disruption, companies in every sector need to bake agility into their businesses to weather upcoming storms, he said. But many of them have a long way to go. In Board International’s “Global Planning Survey 2023” published in May, the firm found that a third of businesses are unprepared for another pandemic, continued supply chain disruption, or continued high interest rates.

In addition, despite nearly every global business (Global: 97%; UK: 97%) executing some form of planning transformation attempt since 2020, 90% (UK: 91%) report failing at it to some degree, the report found. 

The results were based on a survey asking 2,450 decision makers across the U.K., U.S., Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Australia, and Singapore how they are faring in light of a series of economic “unprecedented” events. Just 13% (UK: 12%) said they were unaffected by events such as Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis.

Still, businesses are feeling pressure to improve their disaster planning. The survey found that 85% (UK: 78%) of businesses say planning is now taken more seriously across their organization; 76% (UK: 65%) have seen budgets for planning transformation and planning teams increase; and 94% (UK: 90%) are being asked for a more strategic approach to planning by their boards or investors.