A more pragmatic approach for the drivers of new technology
In a world where cyber breaches are in the news on a daily basis, data management and security has risen sharply as a main driver for the adoption of new technology. In addition, supplier demands have surged. Together with customer demands, which were already identified as one of the key drivers in 2022, it can be deduced that practical concerns like the threat of cyber attacks and the pressures of market forces have replaced more general aspects such as enthusiasm to try out something new.
Concerns grow, confidence drops, lack of countermeasures even increases
In line with this, concern over emerging technology risks has persisted. Interestingly, confidence in management to deal with these challenges has dropped, highlighting a growing disquiet regarding senior executives’ understanding of the risks associated with current technologies (there has been a 10% decrease in respondents stating that senior executives understand these risks extremely or somewhat well).
We expected that in response to growing concerns, organisations would have increased their risk management processes. But the contrary is true. Almost all processes to manage risks have reduced to some extent since 2022. What is the reason for this? Are there budgetary constraints preventing organisations making the necessary investment, is there a lack of appreciation of the level of risk management in place, or are organisations increasingly willing to take greater risks? Our report reveals that this is not just about money. It is about the lack of time and skills.
In view of these survey results, businesses should also invest in their people, to their continuous development and to empower them to face the technological challenges of the future. Operation of even more complex systems safely will be down to the expertise and capacity, and also risk awareness of the team members. The price for not taking appropriate measures will be higher than the cost of investment in people if critical technology fails and no proper management systems are in place with well-trained people to apply them.
Dora Petranyi, Partner, TMC
AI disputes: The unwanted guest to the party – still expected but yet to arrive
When it comes to the subject matter of disputes, respondents’ expectations from 2022 regarding an increase in the number of AI-related disputes have not yet been realised. The actual number of disputes arising from the use of AI is low. Interestingly, this does not seem to have any impact on expectation. AI disputes are still considered likely to be one of the main areas of technology dispute in the coming years. In fact, the number of respondents anticipating an increase in disputes arising from the use of AI has grown by 3%, despite the relative lack of actual disputes of this nature. In particular, respondents expect AI disputes relating to IP, breach of business secrets, product liability and data protection issues.
Whilst compliance/regulatory disputes appear to be the most frequent area of current dispute (topping the list of respondents’ three most likely sources of technology dispute in the past three years), respondents do not expect an imminent increase in these disputes. These disputes are last on the list of respondents’ anticipated sources of dispute for the next three years.
The renaissance of state court litigation
Confidence in state courts has increased. In 2022, 24% of respondents ranked court litigation in their top two favoured dispute resolution processes, well behind arbitration on 29%. The two are now equally favoured, with both on 29%.
We deal with these key findings and more over the following pages.
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