A survey of 131 senior business executives by Gartner has concluded that the top concern for businesses is a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Businesses are concerned about the financial implications of a resurgence in the virus, as well as the need to develop new working conditions and strategic responses to the crisis.

“The concerns about a second wave of the pandemic reveal the psychological fragility of most business leaders heading into summer,” said Matt Shinkman, vice president with the Gartner Risk and Audit Practice.

“Executives have been grappling with reopening strategies, complicated by different stages of the coronavirus in different regions. It’s now becoming clear that a ‘re-exit plan’ will also be a required part of any such strategy.”

Shinkman said there was an opportunity for risk leaders to complement strategy and finance colleagues by identifying the leading indicators that mattered both from a defensive and opportunistic point of view.

“Some of the highest velocity emerging risks over the next 12 months have political and social risk implications,” said Shinkman. “These are not areas that large enterprises have a strong history of navigating fluently and will require their risk teams to take proactive steps to understand how potentially historic shifts will alter the business operating environment.”