There’s nothing these business owners and executives can’t handle – even an economic downturn. GoTo’s new international survey of 3,700 business owners and executives found a varying degree of confidence when it comes to their business’s ability to weather potential financial storms if they were to hit.
In India, for instance, 97% of leaders believe their businesses can survive economic downturns. The majority of respondents from India were in the IT industry (36%), followed by Healthcare (23%), Security (12%), Retail (6%) and Education (5%), Tech (4%), Financial Services (4%) and six other industries (10%).
Likewise, a high percentage of Asian and Oceanic nations surveyed had a strong sense of economic resilience for their businesses: Philippines (90%), Australia (82%), Malaysia (80%), and Singapore (76%).
In the European nations surveyed, however, it’s a different story. Only two in three German (68%) and French (66%) business owners feel confident they can weather a crisis. In the UK, a mere 43% felt confident.
Commissioned by GoTo and conducted by OnePoll, this news comes in as 69% of respondents globally believe a recession is likely to occur within the next six months.
In India, it’s enough to cause 94% of respondents to prepare their businesses for economic headwinds at any given time. To ensure preparedness, 60% of Indian businesses maintain work equipment (employee computers, office equipment, etc.) on a regular basis and 54% create a company-wide emergency fund and equip employees with the technology they need to ensure that work continues uninterrupted. 98% of Indian respondents also agreed that ensuring their employees can connect to IT support is vital to them being able to work.
Execs in India are preparing their businesses to be economically resilient by making plans of action for potential disasters (56%), improving digital security measures (54%), and consolidating technology or evaluating technology needs (50%).
“Whatever is ahead, it is clear businesses need to be prepared in order to support their employees, protect their bottom line, and maintain business continuity. By taking relatively simple steps such as consolidating tech stacks to save money, creating plans for multiple scenarios, and improving their security practices, businesses of all sizes can stay resilient in the face of potential economic uncertainty,” said Paddy Srinivasan, Chief Executive Officer, GoTo.
On a global level, 51% of businesses have come face to face with economic headwinds in the past. Of them, 93% of owners and execs said they learned what to do for any future potential disruptions to their businesses.
When asked what piece of advice they’d give to survive economic headwinds, respondents claimed it’s important to “be prepared,” “plan ahead,” “keep calm” and “be optimistic with strategies and goals while going through the process.” In order to get ahead of potential economic headwinds, the survey found that 76% said it was important to keep their employees protected during economic downtown and 77% said it was important to keep the morale of your employees high during a potential recession.
Of the Indian business leaders surveyed, 97% believe it is important to keep employee morale high during the economic downturn, and 94% believed that employee morale has improved since last year.
While three out of four global business leaders said they would “do anything” in their power to retain employees through a possible recession, 97% of Indian business leaders said that retention was a key priority for them. 68% of global businesses have had important work interrupted by technology issues and 74% believe making sure employee devices are working properly is vital to keeping their businesses running and prepared for any future issues.
Survey methodology:
This random double-opt-in survey of 3,700 Senior-level executives and IT decision-makers in America, the UK, Germany, France, Australia, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore was commissioned by GoTo between August 25 and September 2, 2022. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).