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Optimize Your Business Strategy for Tomorrow
Every area of your business has likely been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the crisis has yet to be resolved. After stabilizing your business, you also need to consider how this new reality affects your long-term strategy. Prepare for the challenges and opportunities to ensure efficiency, reduce administrative burdens, and improve your position to adapt and drive growth when the time comes. There are three critical steps to focus on.
Accelerate and De-Risk M&A Execution
Rethink Workforce and Talent Strategies
Reevaluate Essential Functions
Rethink Workforce and Talent Strategies
The future of work is about the worker — and the need to prepare has accelerated significantly. As you make adjustments to your overall business strategy, consider the impact of these goals and priorities on your workforce needs.
Accelerate and De-Risk M&A Execution
The pandemic has caused a massive slowdown in mergers and acquisitions across industries. Understandably, buyers and sellers are experiencing significant uncertainty, causing them to delay or reassess potential transactions.
No matter how solid your corporate cyber security strategy is, taking on a new company can create vulnerabilities, especially in this time of unusually high cyber attacks. Consider performing a cyber security risk assessment before closing a deal and leaning on insurance policies to protect against risk.
53% of business executives said a critical cybersecurity issue had put an M&A transaction at risk.
Reassess Skills Needed for the Future of Work
65% of those surveyed said they had experienced buyers’ remorse because of cyber security concerns after closing a deal.
Reevaluate essential functions
As you rethink your workforce skills and technology opportunities, take a look at your business’s core capacities and consider what might be outsourced. In Aon’s 2019 Workforce of the Future Survey, 47% of respondents say their reliance on skilled contract workers has increased in the past five years, and organizations are taking a fresh look at necessities.
Learn More About Revisiting Business Strategy
Revisiting your business strategy at any time requires a holistic, multi-pronged approach, but especially now in light of today’s unprecedented complexity.
You need perspectives from commercial risk management, workforce planning and talent strategy, financial investments, and more, and an expert partner like Aon that understands the intricacies and implications of each.
Explore Our Research and Insights
Explore Our Research and Insights
Aon’s 2019 Workforce of the Future Survey reports that employees with three core competencies are most likely to succeed at handling disruption and change:
Agility (top skill)
Connect With Us
Connect With Us
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Leverage Technology to Improve Performance and Innovation
Unlock the Potential of People Data
Protect against increased cyber risk
Protect Against Breach of Representations Risk
Protect against increased cyber risk
Protect Against Breach of Representations Risk
Look out for overly broad exclusions related to COVID-19 from insurers.
Expect heightened diligence around virus impact, especially regarding workforce and supply chain disruptions.
Prepare for long interim periods and heightened scrutiny, and increase your ability to monitor adverse developments.
Aon estimates that more than 45% of North American M&A transactions now include representations and warranties insurance (RWI), up from 34% in 2017. As you develop your RWI policy, keep these trends in mind to make the best use of it:
Consider outsourcing asset management
Take Advantage of Next-Generation Retirement Plans
Reassess Skills Needed for the Future of Work
Curiosity
Leverage Technology to Improve Performance and Innovation
Now is the time to consider opportunities to accelerate innovation and efficiency, and new technology has had mostly positive effects across organizations. Aon’s 2019 Workforce of the Future Survey reports that new technology has positively impacted:
85% of HR roles
81% of operations roles
80% of finance roles
Unlock the Potential of People Data
Only about half of organizations are properly engaged with their people data. Companies need to rethink the role of data by asking four key questions:
Where can we find the right data?
How can we get this information proactively rather than reactively?
What is the optimal use of the data once we get it?
Consider outsourcing asset management
In what was already a complex economic and political environment, COVID-19 is likely to push more business leaders to consider outsourcing the chief investment officer role in order to access the expertise and scale needed to get the most out of their investments.
In the U.S., OCIO managers saw a 72.2% increase in outsourced assets under management
Take Advantage of Next-Generation Retirement Plans
This year’s SECURE Act in the U.S. will likely transform retirement forever, now allowing employers across industries to band together and provide a new breed of defined contribution retirement plan. In Canada, Capital Accumulation Plans (CAPs) are offered by nearly 100 organizations, offering new value and security to employees.
Default savings rates by employees have more than doubled to 8.8% since 2006.
Buying opportunities still exist, but a higher risk tolerance will be needed as buyers become less certain. Ultimately, it could become extremely difficult, if not impossible, to value a company for some time in the future.
Matt Heinz, Senior Managing Director, Aon Transaction Solutions
Reassess Skills Needed for the Future of Work
Leverage Technology to Improve Performance and Innovation
Unlock the Potential of People Data
Learnability
What information do we need to use to make better decisions?
Better investment options under the SECURE Act in the U.S. allows employees to see 15% to 20% improvement in retirement outcomes.
Learnability
What information do we need to use to make better decisions?
Better investment options under the SECURE Act in the U.S. allows employees to see 15% to 20% improvement in retirement outcomes.
Explore Our Research and Insights
Explore Our Research and Insights
Explore Our Research and Insights
Source: Harvard Business Review
Over 40% of employers surveyed in Canada want to commit more time to employee communication and education about new plan options.
Explore Our Research and Insights
Explore Our Research and Insights
Explore Our Research and Insights
Source: Harvard Business Review
Over 40% of employers surveyed in Canada want to commit more time to employee communication and education about new plan options.
Explore Our Research and Insights
Decision Making in Volatile Times
Protect People and Assets
Protect the Balance Sheet
Maintain or Increase Revenue
Cost Management
Revisit
Business Strategy
EN / FR
Read More
Read More
Learn to Protect Your People and Your Assets
Read More
Learn To Protect Your Peaople And Your Assets
Decision Making in Volatile Times
Protect People and Assets
Protect the Balance Sheet
Maintain or Increase Revenue
Cost Management
Revisit Business Strategy
EN / FR