Firms are investing in management services, says PwC lead

Irish business leaders invest in management services as 85% believe that GenAI will increase their cybersecurity risk in the next 12 months

Féilim Harvey, managed services leader and partner, PwC Ireland.

Business leaders are increasingly investing in management services to minimise cyber threats and to ensure they stay relevant and competitive, says one industry expert.

Féilim Harvey, managed services leader and partner, PwC Ireland, notes that PwC’s 2025 Global Digital Trust Insights shows that 27% of technology leaders rank cyber managed services among their top three investment priorities over the next 12 months.

Furthermore, PwC's 2025 GenAI Business Leaders Survey showed that 85% of Irish business leaders believe that GenAI is likely to increase cybersecurity risk in the next 12 months in their organisation.

Féilim Harvey warns: “The old ways of managing our third parties and cybersecurity risks no longer suffice. New threats are emerging as technologies shift and grow. Also, the complexity of managing these risks in a regulated environment is ever increasing."

It is in this context that PwC Ireland has launched its new Threat & Vulnerability Management Service and the extension of its Third Party Risk Management Service. Both moves are part of the expansion of PwC’s Managed Services Practice.

In May 2024, PwC launched its National Cyber Managed Services Centre, which is based in Cork. These services continue to expand, based upon rising client demand.

Over eight out of ten business leaders stated in PwC’s 2025 Irish CEO survey that their organisation is exposed to key threats such as macro-economic volatility, geopolitical risks, cyber risks, technological disruption, the availability of key skills and inflation.

“These new service offerings are driven by client demand, an unprecedented risk landscape, regulatory and compliance complexity and unabating cyber breaches,” says Féilim Harvey. “Over four out of ten Irish CEOs (43%) confirmed that they will invest in business process transformation over the next three years.

“Ambitious companies face many obstacles as they strive to achieve their transformation and growth goals — most notably, getting the balance right between the pressures of looking after the day-to-day business and achieving long-term strategic targets. Availing of PwC’s Managed Services solutions frees up resources and headspace to focus on long-term growth strategy, enabling success and fuelling ambition.” 

PwC’s Ireland’s new Managed Services offerings:

PwC’s enhanced Third Party Risk Management offering protects companies from third party risk, providing a broad range of risk management solutions right across the wider business operations: regulatory, financial, strategic and system risk. This enhanced offering builds on the already successful and established Third Party Risk Management services provided by the PwC National Managed Services Centre in Cork. 

Threat & Vulnerability Management is a security offering helping organisations identify, assess and manage security vulnerabilities and threats across their organisations. Along with support from its alliances, PwC uses industry leading technology to identify security weaknesses to ensure its clients’ businesses remain secure. PwC’s offering complements and enhances existing in-house security operations to reduce overheads and boost efficiencies.