Marie McGinley

The report highlights key findings from the firm’s survey of 700 senior executives globally on the uptake of digital technologies, with businesses in the US, Europe, the Middle East and China the most concerned about cyber risk, as well as those in the technology, media and telecom, finance and healthcare sectors.

It goes on to consider where next for digitalisation, focusing on areas such as adoption; M&A activity; risks and challenges in digitalising; and approaches to ethics and corporate digital responsibility (CDR).

Keeping pace with the changing regulatory landscape is difficult, the report highlights, with 63 per cent of businesses saying the complexity of technology and related laws makes it challenging to assess their risk and liability.

Although cyber risk dominates the digitalisation agenda, the report highlights that other risks need attention and are being overlooked by many. Only 17 per cent of respondents identified operational disruption as one of their top three risks in implementing their digitalisation strategy, 11 per cent identified IP infringement and nine per cent identified third-party risk.

Marie McGinley, partner and head of Eversheds Sutherland’s intellectual property, technology and data protection departments in Dublin, said: “When it comes to digitalisation, businesses worldwide are seeking a competitive edge and the global pandemic has catapulted digitalisation into immediate focus at breakneck speed.

“Businesses that traditionally were not considered technology-focused have embraced digital transformation as a pivotal strand of their strategy, in recognition that no sector can ignore the commercial gains and game-changing nature of digitalisation. However, these benefits, do come with numerous risks, challenges and obligations that need to be understood and navigated to stand the best chance of long-term success.

“It’s estimated that businesses are forecast to spend more than $10 trillion on digital transformation projects over the next five years. This is not unexpected because 97 per cent of corporate executives say that the pandemic accelerated their digital transformation. With the speed of growth that comes with this digitalisation, understanding the plethora of laws and guidance in this area is going to be critical for success.”