Expert Advice for Businesses Navigating Strategic, Operational and Cyber Threats as a Result of Coronavirus

The coronavirus outbreak has caused disruptions globally with China being the first to feel its direct impact on businesses in various sectors and geographies. The economy faced a huge reduction in customer demand, supply chain disruptions, cyber threats and delayed capital transactions because of the lockdown in several cities.

In a recent one-hour webcast hosted for over 190 professionals, Duff & Phelps’ experts provided an overview of the business disruptions and operational and cyber threats experienced. The participants who comprised CEOs, general counsels, internal audit team heads, information security officers, and senior risk and compliance managers were asked about their company’s preparedness in dealing with COVID-19. Here’s what we found:

We also asked participants what are the top business challenges they are currently facing and here’s what they responded:

As a key takeaway from the discussion, businesses were given practical advice on financial restructuring and disputes management. This included the management of cash flow constraints that may result from a business slowdown. Breach of contract situations are expected to happen, too, and businesses were made aware of available resolutions when faced with such situations. Additionally, our experts discussed the importance of employees being well-trained on basic cyber hygiene and current cyber threats to prevent possible cyber vulnerabilities, which can expose the business to ransomware or email phishing attacks.