The 2026 global risk survey cycle marks an inflection point in how risk is understood, prioritized, and operationalized by large organizations. For the first time in several years, leading surveys from Aon, Allianz, the World Economic Forum, Protiviti, PwC, Marsh, Zurich, and Eurasia Group are not merely aligned on top risks, they are aligned on why those risks are proving so difficult to manage with legacy approaches.

Cyber remains the top-ranked risk globally. Geopolitical volatility has become a structural operating condition rather than a periodic shock. Artificial intelligence has moved decisively from emerging concern to material enterprise exposure. Third-party dependency is now treated as a first-order risk category. Across these themes, one signal is clear: risk is no longer behaving as a set of discrete domains. It is behaving as an interconnected system of dependencies, amplifiers, and cascading impacts.

This convergence explains why Integrated Risk Management (IRM) is shifting from an architectural aspiration to an execution requirement.