New Crisis24 survey reveals a "preparedness paradox" among U.S. senior executives, with widespread confidence masking persistent blind spots in crisis detection and response
ANNAPOLIS, Md., April 28, 2026 /CNW/ - A new survey of 303 senior U.S. business leaders, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Crisis24, a global, AI-enhanced provider in integrated risk management, intelligence-led security and medical operations, personal protection, medical concierge and crisis consulting, has found a striking disconnect between how prepared executives believe they are for major disruptions and what the data actually shows about their track record.
Every respondent described their organization's approach to crisis planning as proactive. Every leader said they were confident in their ability to spot emerging risks ahead of competitors. Yet when pressed on specifics, a different picture emerged: 93% admitted their company has missed warning signs of crises or disruptions, with one in four saying it happens frequently or all the time. Nearly half (48%) agreed that their leadership team is frequently caught off guard by market shifts and external pressures.
The findings point to what Crisis24 is calling a "preparedness paradox": a gap between boardroom confidence and operational reality that leaves companies exposed, often without realizing it.
"This data should be a wake-up call," said Sid Kosaraju, President at Crisis24. "Leaders genuinely believe they are ready for crises and disruptions, but when nearly all of them also admit to missing warning signs, that confidence starts to look like a vulnerability in itself. The organizations that will come through the next crisis in the strongest position are the ones willing to challenge their own assumptions about how ready they really are. Putting in place the right structures, processes and tools also enables organizations to better seize opportunities during volatile times."
Blind spots carry a measurable cost
The survey quantified the financial impact of missed signals. Every respondent reported that their business had suffered a financial impact from a recent disruption, with more than a quarter (28%) putting the cost at $25 million or more from a single event. The median impact was $2 million.
Senior leaders also estimated that close to half (46%) of their leadership team's time is spent reacting to immediate crises rather than preparing for future ones. And when asked whether lost market share over the past decade could have been prevented with earlier access to relevant intelligence, 60% said more than a quarter of those losses were avoidable.
Even as companies invest more in planning and intelligence, the preparedness paradox shows confidence is masking risk. Connect with Crisis24 to identify blind spots before they escalate.
Geopolitical instability was already a top concern before the Iran conflict
The survey was fielded in Q1 2026, before the outbreak of the US/Israel-Iran conflict. Even then, the data showed that geopolitical risk was weighing heavily on the C-suite.
Nearly four in five respondents (79%) said that recent geopolitical events had forced their company to rethink its crisis management strategy. Forty-five percent said they felt underprepared for geopolitical instability specifically. And more than a quarter (26%) of leadership teams described their anxiety about global instability's impact on their business as high or severe, with 81% agreeing that this anxiety has a direct impact on strategic decision-making in their organization.
"These findings were concerning enough earlier in the year," said Sid Kosaraju, President, Crisis24. "Since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East, the global risk environment has only become more complex. For companies operating internationally, or with supply chains that touch volatile regions, the ability to see disruptions coming is no longer a nice-to-have. It's a strategic necessity."
Too much data, not enough clarity
The survey identified a clear tension between the volume of information organizations collect and their ability to act on it. Two-thirds (67%) of leaders agreed that their organization has access to large amounts of data but struggles to convert it into prioritized, actionable insights. More than half (56%) pointed to a disconnect between the data they collect and their ability to use it for fast strategic decisions during crises.
When asked what prevents their company from detecting crises earlier, the top barriers were information overload (46%), too much noise in the data (43%), and difficulty establishing data credibility or relevance (42%). In addition, 68% cited some form of inability to forecast business disruptions as a barrier, including lack of suitable external solutions, in-house capabilities, and dedicated resources.
Leaders are looking to AI to close the gap
Despite the challenges, the survey found strong appetite for technology-driven solutions. Eighty-five percent of respondents identified increased use of AI as a top growth opportunity for their company in 2026, well ahead of new product launches (64%), market expansion (56%) and digital transformation (57%). When asked what would most strengthen their resilience over the next three years, greater use of AI again came first (63%), followed by investment in new technology and analytics (50%) and better forecasting and predictive information (49%).
The demand for early warning capability was near-universal. Eighty-two percent said that having advance notice of the next major crisis affecting their business would deliver game-changing or significant strategic value. The majority (57%) said three or six months of lead time would be the most valuable window.
These findings align closely with the capabilities of the Crisis24 AiiA Powered by Palantir platform, which launched earlier this year. Crisis24 AiiA is an anticipatory intelligence tool designed to help leadership teams identify emerging threats and opportunities before they reach the boardroom as surprises. It sits alongside Crisis24's established network of intelligence analysts, global operations centers and on-the-ground crisis response capabilities.
"What this survey tells us is that leaders aren't short on data or on good intentions," said Ansel Stein, VP Product Evangelism, Crisis24 AiiA. "What they need is a way to cut through the noise and get to the signals that actually matter, with enough lead time to act. That's exactly the problem AiiA was built to solve."
The risks leaders want to see coming
When asked which potential crises they feel most underprepared for, senior leaders pointed to cybersecurity threats (48%), AI-driven misinformation (46%), geopolitical instability (45%) and financial market instability (42%).
The signals they most want to monitor tell a similar story: cyber and digital threats (53%), supply chain vulnerabilities (37%) and financial market movement impacts (35%) topped the list.
Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Crisis 24 from February 3 - 18, 2026. The 303 qualified respondents were US adults aged 25 and older, employed full-time, holding a title of Vice President or above, with full or significant responsibility in operations, security/risk/compliance, strategy and business development, recruitment/onboarding, or marketing and sales. All respondents work at companies with at least 1,000 employees and annual revenue of $1 billion or more. The sampling precision of Harris Poll online polls is measured using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 5.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact [email protected].
About Crisis24
Crisis24, a global, AI-enhanced provider of travel risk management, mass communications, critical event management, crisis-security consulting, personal protection solutions and global medical concierge capabilities, allows prominent organizations, disruptive brands and influential people to operate with confidence in an uncertain world. Backed by proprietary AI-enabled SaaS technologies, advanced Global Operations Centers, and the largest team of private sector intelligence analysts in the world, we deliver localized insights and global perspectives alongside medical, security, crisis response and consultancy services as a preferred partner for Fortune 500 corporations. With a uniquely integrated and scalable platform, Crisis24 has an unrivaled financial profile that enables greater investment in technology than industry peers. For more information, visit crisis24.com or speak with a Crisis24 expert today.
SOURCE Crisis24
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