In PwC’s EMEA Cloud Business Survey 2025, we examine how (tech) managers are further developing their cloud strategies to accelerate the transformation of their companies and stay ahead in a complex digital landscape. The survey involved 1,400 managers across 26 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, of whom 102 were from the Netherlands.
According to Ragnar van der Valk, partner technology partner at PwC, artificial intelligence is the major accelerator behind cloud adoption. 'AI runs on a lot of data and a lot of memory, so yes, you must do that with a platform, in this case the cloud, which incorporates both aspects. You can hardly have a conversation in my market these days without AI being discussed. It still has hype characteristics but not investing and not exploring the possibilities is not an option.'
'If you start thinking about which services, products, customer segments and channels you can use to shape other types of service provision, you arrive at something much more fundamental,' Van der Valk continues. 'Think of a product with some AI enablement around customer service, or AI that provides insights about your customers or for your partners, so you can manage the right product range at the right margin.
'In my opinion, there's a very clear link with what we call reinvention. So, how can I, as a company, adapt to the opportunities offered by new technologies like the cloud and AI? This means that technology no longer supports but leads to business success.'
PwC helps organisations to realise this shift. 'We always work from a business perspective: how can you use technology to strengthen your business operations?' Van der Valk explains. 'We don't just focus on technology, however important that is. We bring together perspectives—from taxation, auditing and security to process optimisation—and combine them with our knowledge of technology and the industry.'
Cloud maturity in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the cloud maturity level is higher than in other countries from the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) Cloud Business Survey. Henk Riepma, Senior Manager Financial Services Technology at PwC: 'The survey shows that more organisations recognise the need to strategically anchor cloud and AI. Cloud strategy is the second-highest priority for cloud investments in the Netherlands so there's more attention being paid to establishing and defining cloud policies.'
Dutch cloud maturity is also reflected in investments. 'Companies that already have a high maturity level expect a higher increase in their cloud budgets in the coming year than companies with medium or low maturity,' says Riepma. 'Where you would expect less mature organisations to want to catch up, you see that difference increasing. A gap is developing. And we see the same thing with AI investments.' There are also clear Dutch priorities compared to other countries. 'If you look at priorities in cloud investments, AI and machine learning are at the top. This is also the case in many other countries, but the Netherlands is more focused on digitising core operational platforms.'
According to Riepma, these platforms are outdated, difficult-to-replace systems. 'These basic platforms are often built using outdated software or built in-house. That makes it complicated to move these platforms to the cloud. But unlike in other countries, you do see a lot of attention being paid to this in the Netherlands.'
Sustainability and Responsible AI
A striking finding from the survey concerns sustainability. The ambitions are high, but the implementation could be better. Compared to other countries, the Netherlands lags in translating its sustainability ambitions into concrete actions. And sometimes Dutch companies get stuck at having good ambitions but not implementing them. When choosing a cloud provider, what you can do is to look for data centres that have net-zero carbon emissions or have a good score in other ESG areas.
There is one positive exception. Responsible AI Design and Deployment scores higher in the Netherlands than in most other countries. We are more concerned with responsible AI. This means that AI must be explainable and must not contain biases – that sort of thing. The ethical side of AI applications, in other words.
Security and continuity
The downside of the cloud's increasing role is the need for robust security. 'We need to become even more mature in terms of security and trust,' says Van der Valk. 'A recent leak at a laboratory resulted in the data of 485,000 participants in the cervical cancer screening programme falling into criminal hands.'
In addition to security, the geopolitical context also influences cloud choices. One of the most topical issues is European data sovereignty. 'While American hyperscalers like AWS, Microsoft and Google dominate the market, the need to keep sensitive data within its own region and regulations is growing in Europe,' says Van der Valk. 'The Netherlands is leading the way in hybrid and multi-cloud thinking, but we are increasingly asking: which clouds can truly guarantee compliance with European legislation?'
The solution, he believes, lies in more conscious choices. 'I think customers in the Netherlands and Europe will more consciously choose smaller, local cloud providers to store some of their critical data, if they can trust that the security is at the right level. At the same time, the large hyperscalers will move towards European solutions. Perhaps multi-cloud, the combination of multiple providers, will become even more the norm.'
Future-proof digital economy
Finally, the rapid growth of AI and cloud computing calls for a critical look at the energy and water consumption of digital infrastructures. 'AI is already responsible for eleven to twenty per cent of global electricity consumption. And that share is expected to rise sharply. Organisations would do well to not only strive for innovation and scalability, but also to take responsibility for the efficient use of natural resources. Sustainable cloud strategies are essential for minimising the impact of computing on energy and water. In this way, they contribute to a future-proof digital economy, but also to resilient business models, because energy and water are more precious than ever.'
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