The Insight: on the hot topics for 2024

Another challenging year is almost at an end. So, what does 2024 have in store? Get up to speed with the big issues facing leaders and make sure you’re ready for a successful 2024.

CEOs have two clear operational priorities

There are two clear operational priorities for UK CEOs: advancing digitisation and connectivity across their business and strengthening the employee value proposition. That’s born from a recognition that emerging tech – and generative AI, in particular – will help unlock efficiencies and new opportunities. ESG is also a top agenda item for UK CEOs of large businesses – they’ll look to embed it across their businesses, making it business as usual for everyone. And CEOs recognise the importance of corporate purpose to attracting next-gen talent and establishing a lasting legacy. Our 2023 UK CEO Outlook draws on a survey of 150 CEOs and provides an insight into their mindset now and their priorities over the next three years.

UK CEO Outlook 2023: tech, people and purpose

The economy is weak and vulnerable to shocks

The UK economy has performed better than expected in 2023. At the start of the year, market consensus was that GDP would fall by 1%. Economists are now forecasting growth of 0.5% – in line with our own forecast. But the outlook remains weak and vulnerable to shocks. And the risks are skewed to the downside, stemming from more persistent inflation, delayed impact of monetary policy, and structural weakness of labour supply. Our ‘Global Economic Outlook, December 2023’, looks at the prospects for 37 countries and economic areas, and includes forecasts for growth, inflation and unemployment.

Global Economic Outlook, December 2023

Your new AI colleague gives you the edge on CX

Given the economic outlook, organisations need to find new ways of managing costs and driving growth. One way of doing that is by delivering customer experience excellence. But CX is on the decline following radical cost reduction programmes and failed last-generation tech implementations. Leaders in CX are turning to AI as a new, game-changing colleague, which can help serve customers more effectively and efficiently. Our global Customer Experience Excellence study asked over 13,000 UK consumers for their views on 376 brands. And this year, it includes an AI adoption index that looks at which businesses are implementing the latest technology effectively, safely and ethically.

Customer Experience Excellence: say hello to your new AI colleague

Preparing your business for climate change

Earlier this month at COP28, there were some major developments on climate change and decarbonisation. Over 100 countries agreed to treble their renewables capacity over the next seven years. And there was a pledge of hundreds of millions of dollars to a loss and damage fund to provide financial support to developing countries most impacted by climate change. But did the commitments made at COP28 go far enough and what do they mean for organisations? On our latest ‘Insights for leaders’ event, our own ESG experts were joined by Lamé Verre, Head of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability at SSE Energy and Louise Hughes, Head of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at Ericsson Europe, to give their views. Register for the series to find out what they said.

Insights for leaders event series

Finding and keeping talent means a rethink of HR

Keeping up with emerging tech and accelerating climate action is putting businesses – and their HR teams – under pressure to find and retain talent with the right skills. HR pathfinders are taking bold decisions to reimagine their HR operating model, investing in analytics platforms, and changing their employee value proposition to appeal to the next gen of talent. They’re putting a big focus on culture and employee experience – making their workplace interactions smoother. In our ‘Next Gen HR’ report, we look at the next wave of HR transformation, which goes beyond simply implementing new tech.

Next Gen HR: transforming your HR function

New year, new career? If you’re looking for a new challenge in an organisation where you’ll get to make the difference for UK business and society, check out the current career opportunities at KPMG in the UK .