The leaders of Ukrainian companies named a shortage of labor among the main barriers to doing business in 2019, but 92% of them predict their businesses will grow in the next three years, according to the annual review made by KMPG in Ukraine.
According to the Global CEO Outlook study in Ukraine, during which 130 heads of companies were surveyed, 35% of CEOs (chief executive officer) plan to increase investment in innovation in the next three years, while among the heads of world companies 69% announced such plans.
At the same time, only 39% of the leaders of Ukrainian companies consider their business prepared for cyberattacks, and 31% found it difficult to evaluate their business regarding cyber security, the report says.
At the same time, 52% of managers called staff training the key strategy for preparing the company for the future, 57% would prefer to invest in labor than in technology. However, the global survey shows a different trend – only 32% of the heads of global companies surveyed prefer investment in human resources compared to investments in technology.
Only 16% of organizations around the world have implemented artificial intelligence in the automation of some of their business processes. In Ukraine, given the low labor costs, CEOs see the achievement of return on investment in artificial intelligence and process automation as a distant future.
Among the risks for business development, the heads of Ukrainian companies, in addition to labor shortages, noted regulatory and operational risks, as well as return to economic nationalism.
