​Approximately three-quarters of respondents in Romania (71.4%) have started cloud adoption for multiple departments or for specific processes and plan to implement more broadly in the next two years, according to a local report based on Cloud Business. Survey” conducted by PwC Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The percentage is similar to the average recorded at the EEC level.

Only 12% of respondents in Romania said that all their activities are done in the cloud (everything in the cloud), which means, among other things, enhanced service development capabilities and workload optimization, above the average of 8% recorded in ECE. At the same time, more than 38% of Romanian respondents intend to move all operations to the cloud within the next two years, and 43% want to move half or more of their operations.

“The cloud has become an important component of the digital operating environment, and its implementation is part of the business transformation process. The main advantage of implementing cloud technologies is the creation of new business models and, as a result, revenues. As our survey shows, both Romanian and Middle Eastern companies are at the beginning of their cloud journey and should focus more on innovation and creating new revenue streams, not just on achieving cost reduction goals,” said Gabriel Vojsila, technology partner of PwC in Romania. .

As it is still in its infancy, modernization is the main reason for using the cloud for 42.9% of companies in Romania and for almost half (49%) of companies in CEE.

In the next 12 months, companies in Romania want to develop cloud technologies: data analysis (66.7%), cybersecurity (64.3%), storage (57%), artificial intelligence and machine learning (47.6%). .

When adopting cloud technologies, companies are looking to get a significant return on their investment. Given the lower level of maturity in terms of cloud adoption, the majority of Romanian CEOs surveyed say they are yet to see the full return on investment, but expect significant progress in the next 12 months.

Among Romanian companies that have already achieved measurable value, 40.5% noted reduced time to market for products and services, 35.7% cost savings, 35.7% improved cybersecurity, and 33.3% improved profitability, customer experience, and increased flexibility . .

Among those who expect to achieve measurable value in the next 12 months, the top expected benefits are increased productivity (64.3%), increased sustainability (61.9%), increased flexibility 60% and new revenue streams (57%).

The main obstacles to exploiting the potential of cloud technologies, both at the level of Romanian cloud-advanced companies and at the level of others, are: lack of personnel (42.9%), inability to effectively measure/quantify return on investment (35.7% ), budgetary and/or investment constraints and technological capacity constraints (both 33.3%).

About the survey: The survey was conducted in February and March 2023 among 389 business and technology leaders from seven CEE countries, including Romania, from sectors such as industrial products, financial services, energy, utilities and mining, technology, media and telecom, retail/FMCG and healthcare.

You can read the full reporthere.

Article supported by PwC Romania