Why Slow Crisis Response Is Costing Businesses Millions
Dave Wagner is President & CEO of Everbridge, which helps to keep people safe and organizations running.
As a CEO, I see a common challenge across industries: while threats have accelerated, crisis response hasn’t kept pace. Cyber attacks, supply chain failures and infrastructure breakdowns are no longer isolated incidents; they have become part of the daily risk landscape.
And yet, many organizations still rely on outdated, manual processes to handle critical events. I’ve seen it firsthand while working with business leaders globally. The pattern is consistent: slow decisions, fragmented workflows and incomplete information.
The result? Revenue loss, customer churn, reputational damage and, in many cases, lasting shareholder value erosion.
The Expanding Risk Zone
Today’s leadership teams operate within what I call the expanding risk zone: a space where the volume, speed and interconnectivity of threats are outpacing traditional response models.
It’s not just that the risks are more frequent; the “surface area” of risk has grown dramatically. Cyber attacks can now exploit third-party vendors, cloud misconfigurations or even supply chain dependencies. A single event can ripple across geographies, systems and business units in minutes.
Organizations now rely on more third-party vendors, run on more IT systems and manage a more distributed workforce than they did a decade ago. That translates to a dramatic increase in potential exposure, all in the name of operational efficiency.
But this efficiency comes with a price: vulnerability. By one estimate, cybercrime costs alone may reach $10.5 trillion in 2025.
The data tells the story:
• The cost of IT downtime per minute is almost $9,000 per incident.
• 15.4 million disruptive events were expected in 2023.
• Severe disruptions can erase more than 10% of shareholder value.
Given these risks, leadership cannot afford fragmented or sluggish responses.
The New Standard: AI-Powered Automation
As more organizations are using automation to stay ahead of the expanding risk zone, purpose-built AI is becoming increasingly valuable.
With AI-powered platforms, leaders can:
• Detect threats early and prioritize them intelligently.
• Automate workflows across IT, security and operations.
• Provide executives with real-time, actionable insights.
• Continuously improve after every incident.
This can result in faster, smarter and more coordinated responses when they matter most.
Putting AI To Work: A Leadership Playbook
Incorporating AI into crisis response isn’t just about adopting new tools; it’s about reshaping organizational culture and processes. For leadership looking where to begin, here are a few steps I’ve seen work:
• Evaluate your organization’s existing incident response procedures to identify gaps where AI can add value.
• Engage stakeholders from IT, security, operations and executive teams to ensure a unified approach to AI integration.
• Implement AI solutions in a specific area (such as threat detection) before scaling up to broader applications.
• Equip your teams with the necessary skills to work alongside AI technologies effectively.
• Monitor AI performance and gather feedback to refine and improve its effectiveness.
By taking these steps, organizations can better harness AI to enhance their crisis response capabilities, ensuring resilience in the face of evolving threats.
Why This Belongs On The C-suite Agenda
Most executives recognize that business continuity is a board-level concern, yet many organizations still scramble when disruptions hit. Cyber threats, in particular, require a response velocity most companies simply can’t match. Ransomware can lock critical systems in under 45 minutes, yet many organizations take hours just to assemble response teams. This is not just a technology problem—it’s a leadership challenge.
Today, business resilience is as much a boardroom priority as revenue growth. Forrester reports that companies that cite a lack of adequate incident response preparation spend more on breaches (and experience more breaches) over a 12-month period than those that are prepared. The organizations that thrive today are those that have invested in making resilience a core competency, not an afterthought.
ISG predicts that by 2026, 40% of enterprises will adopt AI-driven strategies to streamline operations and optimize resources. This shift is already happening.
Leading Beyond Disruption
The next time disruption strikes, the question won’t be whether your teams will face it, but whether they will be ready. As CEOs, we are ultimately responsible for ensuring they are.
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