EY LatAm business survey: economy, political uncertainty and sector risks

This is an automated translation of the original release issued in Spanish

PRESS RELEASE from EY
June 2024

Local economic scenario (35%), local political uncertainty (31%) and the sector's own risks (30%) are the main external challenges in the global sphere that companies see in the next three years, according to the “Challenges and Business Trends in Latam 2024” by EY conducted to senior executives of firms from 10 countries in the region. The other challenges for companies are changes in demand, preferences and behaviors of customers and consumers (29%); and entry of new competitors and substitutes, both global and local (26%).

At the level of internal challenges, they are in the Top of Mind : market share growth (29%); operational improvements, productivity and costs (26%); and business strategy and transformation (25%). Technology and digital transformation appear further down (23%); and liquidity, financial management and internal control (18%), ranking in 4th and 5th place, respectively.

In relation to global trends for industries in the triennium, Latin American companies are focusing on cybersecurity and data protection, innovation and productivity driven by technology (all with 78%). In the 4th and 5th position are data as an asset transversal to the entire organization (73%); and adaptation to new regulations (68%).

At the level of disruptive technologies, the Top 5 are analytics (75%), big data (74%), cloud (74%), Artificial Intelligence (72%) and 5G connectivity (68%).

Manuel Solano, regional lead partner of EY Latin America, said that “companies in Latin America face a slowing economy and political uncertainty in the coming years, both locally and internationally, with geopolitical conflicts and other global threats on the agenda. Today, companies feel better prepared to face the ups and downs of the market, so their main challenges are to continue with the digital transformation - through tools such as Artificial Intelligence - along with continuing to grow, achieving operational improvements and reducing costs.

For his part, Eduardo Valente, leading partner of EY Latin American Markets, commented on the role of digital transformation tools within organizations. “Technology continues to be the great enabler for companies to achieve their objectives and continue to be relevant in the market. The challenge is how companies in the region will use these trends to solve real problems of their organizations and achieve a competitive advantage that allows them to increase their production, increase their market share or extend their operation to new latitudes, and thus compete with companies that already operate in the global market,” he expressed.

Chile results

At the national level, the local (36%) and global (29%) economic scenario, along with the sector's own risks (31%) are the main external challenges in the global sphere that Chilean companies see.

Regarding internal challenges, they are in the Top of Mind : operational improvements, productivity and costs (29%); market share growth (28%); and technology and digital transformation (23%).

In relation to global trends for industries in the next three years, companies are focusing on technology-driven productivity (82%), innovation (79%) and cybersecurity and data protection (73%). .

At the level of disruptive technologies, the Top 5 are Artificial Intelligence (76%), 5G connectivity (72%), analytics (70%), big data (69%) and cloud (69%).

Sample data

Regarding the details of the survey, it should be noted that this is the second Latin American version in which companies from 10 countries in the region participated. In the case of Chile, this is the seventh edition. The email survey was conducted in the first half of 2024 among 1,379 front-line executives from various sectors. Participated: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

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