Seventy-eight per cent of CEOs believe the COVID-19 pandemic has driven shifts towards remote collaboration while 76% believe it has accelerated automation, found a new survey of 699 global CEOs released by PwC Aug. 10.

Meanwhile, 61% of the CEOs surveyed believe that their business models will be more digital in the future. “Responses show digital infrastructure, flexible working and employee well-being will top their boardroom agendas as they reconfigure business operations to secure growth in the next 12 months and beyond,” says PwC.

Fifty-eight per cent of the CEOs said ensuring supply chain safety will remain a focus. This will drive technology investments to enable tracking of products from production to delivery, and to ensure their suppliers and partners are resilient during crises, explains PwC.

"Business leaders need to simultaneously keep their company running today and fundamentally rethink their strategy for tomorrow, so they come out of the pandemic ready to reconfigure their business to thrive in a very different world. And they need to do that, thinking not just about the COVID-19 acceleration of change in society and the rising expectations of their broader stakeholders, but also the other issues that are going to fundamentally reshape the future of business – from climate change to populism," says Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited.

The CEOs are cautious about their own revenue growth prospects in the year ahead (45% somewhat confident and 15% very confident). Sixty-five per cent are predicting a decline in global growth it is temporary.