What DRI International’s latest report on the future of operational resilience reveals
DRI International recently published the 11ᵉ edition of the Annual Global Risk and Resilience Trends Report (2025), a reference document based on a global survey and contributions from the Future Vision Committee.
This report offers an up-to-date – and resolutely pragmatic – reading of the main operational, strategic and systemic risks facing organizations in the short and medium term.
Unlike many purely theoretical analyses, this report reflects the point of view of professionals directly involved in business continuity, crisis management, cyber resilience and operational resilience, and highlights the real areas of fragility in today’s organizations.
Immediate operational risks: where discontinuity materializes
Among the risks identified as the most critical, several now appear to be structural rather than cyclical:
Cyber incidents and IT system disruptions
Cyber incidents are now seen as the leading cause of operational disruption. Beyond the frequency of attacks, it is their capacity to cause cascading effects on critical processes, essential services, customers and reputation that is causing concern. The line between technological incident and organizational crisis has become extremely fine.
Financial instability and macroeconomic pressures
Inflation, market volatility and economic tensions directly affect the resilience of supply chains and the ability of organizations to invest sustainably in prevention, redundancy and continuous improvement.
Extreme natural and climatic events
These are no longer regarded as exceptional events, but as recurring factors with systemic impacts on infrastructure, logistics, energy and resource availability. Climate resilience is thus becoming a pillar of business continuity in its own right.
Skills and resources shortage
An often underestimated factor: even the most robust methodological frameworks remain ineffective without trained teams, clearly defined responsibilities and a real ability to execute under stress. Resilience relies above all on the human factor.
Fundamental trends redefining resilience
Beyond the immediate risks, the report highlights several structural trends that are profoundly transforming the very notion of organizational resilience:
- Growing dependence on complex technologies and third-party service providers, with increasing risks of concentration and insufficiently controlled critical dependencies.
- Ungoverned use of artificial intelligence, introducing new operational, ethical and continuity vulnerabilities, particularly when AI is involved in decision-making or service delivery processes.
- Geopolitical instability and erosion of institutional confidence, amplifying the effects of crises and making strategic planning more uncertain.
- Increased pressure on natural resources and critical infrastructures, particularly energy, with direct impacts on operational sustainability.
These factors should not be analyzed in isolation: their danger lies in their interactions and in the complex scenarios they generate.
The report’s key message: move from reaction to strategic capability
The central message of the Global Risk & Resilience Trends Report 2025 is unambiguous:
Resilience can no longer be purely reactive, nor confined to the scope of Business Continuity Management.
It must become an integrated strategic capability, combining :
- Business continuity and crisis management
- Cyber resilience and digital incident management
- Controlling suppliers and critical third parties
- Risk governance at senior management level
This approach implies an end-to-end vision, in which plans, technologies, skills and processes are aligned, consistent and regularly tested through realistic scenarios.
A particularly relevant reading for the European context
The report’s findings resonate strongly with European regulatory developments, notably DORA and NIS2, which now require organizations to demonstrate not just the existence of formal arrangements, but real, measurable and verifiable operational maturity in terms of continuity and resilience.
With this in mind, DRI International’s report is both an overview of emerging risks and a strategic thinking tool for executives, administrators, risk managers and resilience professionals called upon to steer organizations in an increasingly unstable and interconnected environment.
Editorial note
The full report is available via the DRI Library (access restricted to members and registered users). It is a valuable reference to guide business continuity, cyber resilience and operational resilience programs in 2025 and beyond.
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