EY’s Veron Wong: Singapore businesses are increasingly embedding resilience into core management practices

She shared that this is helping leaders make investment, expansion, and supply chain decisions with greater agility in an increasingly volatile environment.

Singapore’s management landscape is slowly being shaped by digital transformation and workforce adaptability, as leaders balance technology investments with talent development and retention. Organisations continue to navigate tight labour conditions, geopolitical uncertainties, and growing expectations for sustainable growth, placing greater emphasis on agile leadership, upskilling, and becoming future-ready.

Singapore Business Review Management Excellence Awards 2026 judge Veron Wong, EY Asean and Singapore Risk Consulting Leader, helps organisations strengthen governance, manage emerging risks and build resilience through transformation. Her experience spans risk management, internal audit, and large-scale business transformation programmes across multiple industries.

Having advised organisations across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Americas, Wong brings a global perspective on the challenges facing businesses today, from macroeconomic volatility to the rapid adoption of AI. She also leads pre-IPO listing reviews for companies preparing for listings on the Hong Kong and Singapore exchanges, advising them on how to strengthen governance and risk management as they scale and grow.

In this interview, she shares how Singapore organisations can embed resilience into their core management practices, navigate emerging risks, and maintain agility whilst operating in increasingly complex and interconnected markets.

How are Singapore businesses adapting their management approaches to operate in an environment of greater economic uncertainty and geopolitical complexity?

According to the May edition of EY-Parthenon Global CEO Outlook Survey, geopolitics is now a core driver of business strategy. In Singapore, that is fast becoming the case as well. The survey found that 71% of Singapore CEO respondents identify geopolitics as the most significant risk to their business over the next 12 months.

Hence, we are seeing Singapore businesses increasingly embedding resilience into core management practices rather than treating it as a contingency plan. Management teams are strengthening scenario planning and enterprise risk management to test strategic decisions against a wider range of economic, geopolitical, and operational outcomes. This is helping leaders make investment, expansion, and supply chain decisions with greater agility, whilst preserving optionality in an increasingly volatile environment.

At the same time, they are building greater resilience through supplier diversification, technology modernisation, or workforce upskilling. More businesses are also using data and early warning indicators to make faster, more informed decisions before risks escalate into material issues. This allows management teams to strengthen business continuity in a rapidly changing operating environment.

What distinguishes organisations in Singapore that demonstrate strong governance and risk management practices?

Strong governance is reflected in the consistency of an organisation's decision-making, accountability and risk response. Leading organisations have clear ownership of risk from the board to management and operational teams, with risk considerations embedded into business decisions rather than treated as a compliance requirement. This enables them to assess trade-offs more effectively and make decisions with greater confidence. The EY Global Risk Transformation Study 2025 highlights that Risk Strategists – i.e., organisations that integrate risk with strategy and use forward-looking insight – respond more effectively to shocks. 

They also maintain a disciplined control culture, supported by clear policies, timely monitoring, and effective escalation. Importantly, they look ahead by actively assessing emerging risks such as emerging technologies, cyber threats, regulatory change, third-party dependencies, and sustainability expectations before issues become business critical. This puts them in a better position to navigate uncertainty whilst maintaining stakeholder trust and operational resilience.

As organisations increasingly adopt AI technologies, what new risks should management and internal audit leaders in Singapore be paying closer attention to?

AI can drive productivity, insight, and innovation, but it also changes an organisation's risk profile. Data governance becomes critical as AI outcomes depend on the quality, security, privacy, and authorised use of the data that underpins them. Poor data quality can lead to flawed insights and slower decision-making. This is even more crucial as organisations scale AI adoption.

Leaders also need transparency and accountability over AI models, particularly where they influence customer, financial, compliance, or workforce decisions. Internal audit should assess whether appropriate human oversight and ethical safeguards are in place to prevent unintended bias, control gaps, and reputational risks. 

How can companies balance the need to maintain strong third-party controls with the need to remain agile and efficient in a highly interconnected business environment?

Third-party controls and agility should reinforce each other. A risk-based approach allows companies to apply deeper due diligence and monitoring to critical vendors, whilst keeping processes proportionate for lower-risk arrangements. By focusing resources on areas of greatest exposure, organisations can maintain the speed and flexibility needed to support business growth.

Controls should be pre-emptive and embedded upfront into procurement, contracting, and performance management, rather than added only after issues arise. AI can further streamline vendor assessments, automate ongoing monitoring, and provide timely visibility over concentration, compliance and operational risks. As outlined in the EY Global Third-Party Risk Management Survey 2025, there are opportunities for companies to leverage AI-driven, real-time monitoring, and centralised oversight to strengthen third-party controls whilst improving risk visibility, agility, and efficiency.

As Singapore continues to serve as a regional hub for multinational and Asian companies, how might its management landscape evolve as businesses expand across increasingly diverse markets?

As companies use Singapore as a platform for regional growth, management teams will need to combine consistency with local sensitivity. Leaders must balance group-wide standards with local market realities, regulatory requirements and cultural nuances. The challenge will be to maintain a common strategic direction whilst giving local teams sufficient flexibility to respond to differing market conditions and customer expectations.

Governance models will need to become more connected and scalable, giving boards and senior management clearer visibility over overseas operations, delegated authorities, and key risks. This is crucial as they expand into markets with varying regulatory maturity and business practices. Cross-border capabilities such as talent mobility, digital collaboration, and stakeholder management will also become increasingly important. 

As a returning judge for the Singapore Business Review Management Excellence Awards 2026, what capabilities do you believe Singapore business leaders will need to strengthen most to manage emerging risks whilst supporting innovation?

The strongest business leaders will be those who can innovate without compromising trust, resilience or accountability. Strategic risk foresight will be essential, enabling leaders to identify emerging risks early and translate them into practical action.

Responsible innovation will also be critical as companies adopt AI, automation and new business models. Leaders must pair innovation with sound governance, ethical decision-making, and organisational agility, so they can mobilise people, technology, and partnerships quickly whilst maintaining discipline and transparency.