Making Society More Resilient

We are living through a period of sustained uncertainty.

Geopolitical tensions, escalating cyber threats, climate-driven disruption, and growing interdependencies across technology, energy, and supply chains mean that severe operational disruption is no longer an exception — it is now an expectation.

Against this backdrop, operational resilience has become a defining strategic priority for both organisations and governments.

Ashley Harris

Partner, UK Operational Resilience Lead

KPMG in the UK

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Making Society More Resilient

A collection of thought leadership on Operational Resilience, Third Party Risk Management, Cyber Resilience and related topics.

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In this context, we are proud to share our latest insights:

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Making Society More Resilient: Navigating Disruption with Confidence

This report brings together perspectives from across industries on how organisations can maintain and strengthen the resilience of their most critical products and services.

Inside, you will find:

Lessons learned from recent large-scale outages and cyber incidents
Insights into evolving UK government policy and regulation
Practical steps organisations are taking to elevate operational resilience to a Board-level priority
Approaches to turning resilience into a source of strategic advantage

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A New Reality: From Organisational Risk to Societal Impact

Recent incidents have shown that disruption rarely stays contained within a single organisation. Failures can cascade rapidly across suppliers, markets, and communities.

As a result, the focus has shifted from internal recover to societal impact and harm mitigation.

This shift is reflected in evolving regulatory expectations, including:

The UK Government’s Resilience Action Plan
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill
Increased oversight of critical third parties

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Why Operational Resilience Matters

When effectively embedded, operational resilience:

Enables confident decision-making
Supports growth and transformation
Protects brand and customer trust
Differentiates organisations in competitive markets

This report provides a practical perspective on how to respond to geopolitical, technological, and systemic risks — not just to survive disruption, but to operate with confidence in an increasingly volatile world.

Key Insights at a Glance

Disruption is the norm — not the exception

Extreme outages, cyber incidents, and systemic failures are increasing in both frequency and severity. Organisations must plan for disruption as a certainty, not a remote risk.
Resilience is about societal impact

Disruptions don’t stop at organisational boundaries. Resilience now requires maintaining critical services and minimising harm to customers, markets, and society.
Policy and regulation are moving toward a whole-society approach

UK government initiatives and global regulatory developments are converging around a shared direction: resilience is a collective responsibility, with increasing expectations on organisations, third parties, and technology providers.
A Minimum Viable Company mindset is essential

Organisations must clearly define the minimum services, processes, and assets required to operate during extreme but plausible scenarios. Resilience planning must move from theory to practical survivability.
Resilience drives strategic advantage
Leading organisations are leveraging resilience to:
- Accelerate recovery
- Build customer trust
- Improve investment decisions
- Enable sustainable growth
When embedded into strategy and operating model resilience becomes a business enabler, not just a regulatory requirement.

Get in Touch

If you would like to discuss the insights in this report in more detail, or explore how operational resilience can support your organisation’s strategic objectives, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.