Approximately 60% of Romanian companies have adopted cloud technology, and the percentage of those with a high level of implementation has increased over the past two years from 14% to 23%, according to the local report based on the Cloud Business Survey conducted by PwC Central and Eastern Europe. At the regional level, 68% of companies use cloud, and the share of those with advanced implementation has reached 25%.

In contrast, approximately 40% of Romanian companies have not yet gone beyond pilot projects and isolated uses of the cloud. Although this percentage has decreased compared to 2023, progress has been slower than in the rest of the region, where only 31% of companies are at early stages.

Less than a quarter of local organizations have migrated applications to the cloud on a large scale, compared to over a third at the regional level, and a significant portion are only planning to make this step in the next year.

“Romanian companies are still catching up in terms of cloud. Maturity levels are lower than in other markets in the region, such as Poland or the Czech Republic, where adoption has accelerated strongly over the past two years. However, there are significant nuances that the numbers alone do not capture,” said Gabriel Voicilă, Technology Partner, PwC Romania.

The gap compared to the region is even more visible in the area of artificial intelligence. Only 13% of Romanian companies have effectively implemented cloud-based artificial intelligence or machine learning tools, less than half the regional average.

Very few local companies have implemented or are in the process of implementing AI agents, while most say they are still exploring these solutions without having taken concrete steps.

Overall, most Romanian companies do not consider themselves prepared from the perspective of data infrastructure and internal skills to leverage artificial intelligence. Only about a quarter believe they have an adequate data architecture (well-organized systems for data collection, storage, and management), almost half the regional average. Employee training is also not better, being below the CEE level.

Encouragingly, however, half of local companies pay attention to the responsible implementation of AI applications, exceeding the regional average in this regard.

Moreover, nearly three-quarters of Romanian companies intend to allocate larger budgets for cloud over the next year, but most are targeting modest increases (under 5%). At the regional level, over half of the companies plan budget increases of more than 5%.

Only 17% of local companies plan specific investments in AI and machine learning in the cloud area, half the regional average. Most Romanian organizations allocate budgets for cloud strategy (30%), cloud managed services (30%), digitalization of core operational platforms (27%), and industry-specific cloud solutions (27%).

Another strong point of Romania is sustainability: about 70% of local organizations use cloud infrastructure and data centers with sustainable practices, 15% above the CEE average, this being Romania’s biggest advantage over the region in the entire study. Also, the vast majority of local companies (93%) consider sustainability criteria when choosing a cloud provider.

radu@romania-insider.com

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