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2027 EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVES ON TOP RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES

UNLEASHING ENTERPRISE VALUE

9 min read

Executives are betting on AI that changes how work gets done, partnerships that open new markets, and the speed to act before conditions force the decision. But confidence in those capabilities is uneven. In fact, just 22% of organisations have a high level of confidence, collectively, in their ability to transform the enterprise, protect enterprise value, and respond effectively to market opportunities and risks.

Protiviti's 15th annual Executive Perspectives on Top Risks and Opportunities, Unleashing Enterprise Value, captures how 1,330 board members and C-suite executives worldwide are planning to grow, invest and compete in the year ahead.

Below, we answer the key questions executives should be asking about where growth is coming from, what leaders are funding and what separates the most confident organisations, along with the actions leaders can take.

Three shifts shaping 2027 plans:

This year's findings reframe where value is created and what it takes to capture it.

Organisations best positioned for success are those that can simultaneously protect enterprise value, respond to changing conditions, and transform the business to sustain long-term competitiveness.

- Executive Perspectives on Top Risks & Opportunities 2027

Below are the five questions leaders are raising for 2027 with answers from this year’s research, plus what executives can do to address these questions.

The AI value equation

How can we prioritise our AI investments to drive the most value?

Start by understanding that AI value comes from absorption, not adoption.

Executives have moved past the purchase decision. What determines return now is whether AI is absorbed into the enterprise; whether people are equipped to use it, whether it's integrated across technology, process and workflow, and whether governance keeps pace with deployment.

Action for executives:

Build workforce enablement, workflow redesign, integration and governance into the AI business case from the start, not as a follow-on phase once the technology is deployed.

Investments that drive value

How should we prioritise our strategic investments to achieve meaningful value?

Invest in capabilities that elevate the maturity of data, processes and infrastructure.

Executives are investing to modernise the enterprise for transformation. Cybersecurity tops the list, protecting enterprise value and building the trusted environment that enables growth. Beneath it, business process improvement and infrastructure modernisation upgrade the operational engine, while advanced data analytics and workforce skilling build the capacity to use it. These are mechanisms to manage risk and strategic enablers of growth, innovation and enterprise transformation at the same time.

Action for executives:

Test each 2027 investment against what it enables, not only what it prevents and confirm analytics is funded well enough to shorten the time between a decision trigger and the decision.

Best growth opportunities

What are our best opportunities to achieve growth?

Ecosystem partnerships offer significant opportunities to achieve growth.

Ecosystem development is the growth path gaining ground. Partnerships provide faster access to innovation, specialised capabilities, emerging technologies and new customer segments, letting organisations deliver value beyond their core offerings. The growing emphasis on ecosystems reflects leaders' lower confidence in responding with agility relative to their ability to transform and protect.

Action for executives:

Identify where external relationships can reach capabilities, technologies or customer segments faster than you can build them and treat those relationships as part of the growth plan, not adjacent to it.

Protection enables transformation

Why does a strong focus on protection in the near-term risk agenda signal a focus on growth?

Protecting enterprise value enables growth and is becoming a prerequisite for transformation.

Protection is no longer a defensive agenda. Organisations cannot scale AI, modernise infrastructure, digitise operations or expand ecosystems without the trust, security, governance and resilience that protective measures enable. Like having brakes while navigating the Autobahn, the ability to protect enterprise value determines how fast and confidently organisations can transform.

Action for executives:

Treat AI governance, data security, privacy and third-party risk as part of the growth business case, funded on the same timeline as the initiatives they make possible.

Seeing the future

How do I plan for emerging opportunities when I can’t see two years out?

Recognise that response readiness is today’s overlooked competitive advantage.

Responding is the capability leaders feel least prepared to execute. Only 38% express high confidence in their organisation’s ability to respond as conditions change. Advanced data analytics recorded the largest increase among strategic investment priorities. Deeper, more advanced analytics can help leaders understand market changes, recognise decision triggers and respond while options remain open.

Action for executives:

Define the conditions that require your organisation to adjust its plan, identify the information needed to recognise those conditions, and establish who is responsible for making the decision.

The Growth Agenda: Transform, Protect and Respond

Protiviti managing directors Matt Moore, Katie Dunlap and Fran Maxwell discuss the key findings from the firm’s Top Risks and Opportunities report.

FAQs

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What is Protiviti’s 2027 Top Risks & Opportunities Survey?

The 2027 Top Risks & Opportunities Survey is Protiviti's 15th annual global study of the risks, growth opportunities and investment priorities shaping executive decision-making. Responses were collected in June and July 2026 from 1,330 board members and C-suite executives spanning industries, geographic regions and organisation sizes, giving boards and management teams a benchmark against their peers.

What are the top near-term risks for organisations in 2027?

The five highest-ranked global near-term risks are cyber threats, emerging risks from implementing AI, economic conditions, heightened regulatory change and the rapid speed of disruptive innovation. The survey evaluates near-term risks over the next two to three years.

Why do so many executives perceive a riskier business environment in 2027 than in 2026?

Nine of the top 10 near-term risks come back to enterprise readiness rather than isolated threats. Protiviti's report frames them as tests of whether organisations have the resilience, talent, governance, data and agility needed to keep pace with disruptive change.

What do leaders now see as the drivers of success with their AI deployments? 

It is both, and the survey captures that tension directly. Emerging risks from implementing AI rank second among near-term risks, yet leaders' stated AI priorities are growth-oriented: equipping the workforce to realise AI's value proposition, integrating AI with existing technologies, business processes and the workforce, and improving governance and accountability for AI deployments. Protiviti reads this as a shift away from AI hype toward operationalising AI to create value.

What does it take for a company to stay competitive through constant disruption?

Protiviti's research points to three things working together: transforming the business to stay competitive, protecting enterprise value from emerging threats, and responding quickly when conditions shift. Confidence levels sit at 45%, 48% and 38% respectively, and only 22% of organisations report high or very high confidence across all three.

Why do companies struggle to react quickly to change?

Just 38% of leaders report high or very high confidence in their organisation's ability to respond with agility, the lowest of the three areas measured. Protiviti's report ties this to gaps in real-time market data, scenario simulation, predictive analytics and rolling forecasts, along with the lag between spotting a decision trigger and acting on it.

Why is cybersecurity a business issue and not just a technology issue?

Cyber threats are the number one global near-term risk, and cybersecurity is the single largest strategic investment priority at 45%. Five of the top 10 near-term risks relate to protecting enterprise value. Protiviti's report argues this shouldn't be treated solely as a compliance or control effort, because organisations cannot scale AI, modernise infrastructure, digitise operations or expand ecosystems without the trust, security, governance and resilience that protective measures enable.

Where do executives expect to generate growth over the next two to three years?

Ecosystem development is the strongest growth opportunity at 65%, up from 62% the prior year, followed by revenue potential at 64% and geographic expansion at 52%. Protiviti's report identifies ecosystems as a faster route to innovation, specialised capabilities, emerging technologies and new customer segments than organisations can build alone.

Why are more organisations viewing ecosystem partnerships and strategic alliances as untapped opportunities for growth?

Sixty-five percent of leaders see significant opportunities to expand strategic alliances and partnerships, compared with 62% in the prior year. The report identifies ecosystems as a way to gain faster access to innovation, specialised capabilities, emerging technologies and new customer segments.

In what areas are organisations planning their strategic investments to prepare for what's ahead?

The leading global investment priorities are cybersecurity at 45%, business process improvement at 38% and infrastructure modernisation at 33%. Advanced data analytics also climbed sharply, named by 30% of leaders compared with 20% the prior year, reflecting the view that better data-driven decision-making underpins productivity, market intelligence, AI value and organisational agility.

How is the technology agenda merging with the talent agenda?

Skills and talent acquisition, retention, leadership development and succession all rank among the most significant near-term risks, alongside limited access to the workforce skills needed to adopt emerging technologies. Protiviti's report describes the technology agenda merging with the talent agenda, noting the top priority for maximising AI's value is better equipping the workforce to realise it.

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2027 EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVES ON TOP RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES

C-Suite leaders see opportunity in 2027. Yet fewer than half are confident in their capabilities to unleash enterprise value.

Three shifts shaping 2027 plans: