In an increasingly demanding operating landscape, future-readiness requires progress against too many, often competing priorities. Aware that they cannot do everything at once, leaders say they’re willing to plan for the long term.

Yet, it is not clear that executives are actually building foundations for the long run. Our broader benchmark results suggest that they are overlooking opportunities in data-driven business, talent and ESG that will drive long-term success.

Long-term orientation(“My company is willing to sacrifice short-term gain for long-term competitive advantage”, % respondents)

Key stakeholders are all bought into the idea of building future-readiness.

With stakeholders on board, firms have an explicit mandate to move forward. Failure to make progress cannot be attributed to a lack of buy-in.

High levels of support from a range of stakeholders(% respondents indicating support for modernisation efforts by stakeholder type)

Tech investments are yielding dividends across the board in business fundamentals and value propositions.

Business leaders should invest in both re-thinking core functions and pursuing new capabilities. Though tech upgrades can be difficult and costly, the proof of concept is clear: firms are reaping the benefits.

Impact of technology upgrades on key business areas over the past year(% respondents indicating “positive”, “no” or “negative” impact)

Companies are making bold forays into new tech. Across 14 emerging and frontier technologies, current and planned adoption rates range from 53% to 89%. Yet, while the typical firm benefits from their tech investments overall, each adopted technology delivers significant strategic value only 48% of the time on average.

Despite widespread adoption and broadly successful tech implementation, firms could be squeezing even more value from their individual tech investments. Adoption must be tied to strategic goals and informed by the business context.

Technology implementation has room for improvement(% respondents indicating adoption rates by technology; % respondents indicating a technology is delivering significant strategic value)

On frontier technologies like blockchain and machine learning, managers’ adoption plans exceed CxOs’ by as much as 8 percentage points.

CxOs may have a better understanding of constraints and long-term plans, but management's on-the-ground knowledge of the potential value derived from tech should inform strategic decision making.

C-suite adoption plans lag those of management for 12 out of 14 technologies(the difference between Non C-suite and C-suite plans to adopt, percentage points)

Data are the lifeblood of the modern enterprise. Although firms recognise that increased data collection requires more robust data governance, almost none have sufficient guidelines in place.

Firms need to invest in better data governance to mitigate exposure to financial, reputational and cybersecurity risks.

As firms leverage data for more purposes, data governance processes improve, yet remain insufficient(average count across firms)

Talent sits at the heart of the future-ready business: strong workforces and talent practices are associated with product and service innovation, technological readiness and social sustainability.

By prioritising firm-wide, integrated people-centric strategies, businesses can advance towards future-readiness on all fronts, not just talent.

Talent enables it all(average scores across talent versus technology & innovation indicators, at the firm level)

A lack of priority is hampering progress. The average firm is implementing few talent recruitment, cultivation, training or performance evaluation best practices, many of which only form a baseline standard. For instance, just one in three firms use a transparent and standardised evaluation process for candidates.

Firms should look to implement holistic strategies that put people first. Future-readiness requires an informed approach to talent cultivation, performance evaluation and training.

Even firms that understand talent’s importance are failing prioritise it(average scores, 0-100)

Firm size is no longer a marker of the ability to attract talent. This may be due to technology itself: training is more accessible, vendor support has improved and usability increases as innovations age.

Talent seeks opportunity: offer value and employees will follow.

Access to tech-savvy talent("My firm has access to the talent needed to implement and utilise advanced technologies", % respondents by firm revenue)

Nine in ten executives say each aspect of ESG is important, yet few are taking steps to commit to meaningful change. For example, fewer than one in three firms have a formalised strategy to address existing diversity and inclusion gaps.

No matter how much importance executives now claim to place on ESG, meaningful progress will not take place without commitment.

The sizable commitment gap(average indicator scores, 0-100)

Less than a quarter of firms with revenues of US$150m-250m have dedicated staff and resources to environmental sustainability. Although smaller firms have scarce resources and differing levels of external scrutiny, all firms should prioritise sustainability.

Failure to commit resources to ESG will cost firms in the long run. On top of imminent regulation, firms face reputational and financial risk if they fall behind on ESG performance.

Allocation of staff and resources to sustainability increases with firm size(% respondents by firm revenue)

Across ESG, tracking mechanisms are lacking. For example, the average firm monitors fewer than two of six categories of social data, and 10% of firms measure none.

The end goal should be action informed by data. To achieve results, firms must track progress towards their ESG targets. Plausible deniability is not a long-term solution.

What gets measured(% respondents)