Successful use of advanced cloud computing services is the crucial step that must be taken to access the tremendous benefits of technology, including enabling greater innovation and accelerating business growth, while building digital resilience, security and data protection throughout Europe. public and private sectors.
In 2020, the European Commission announced its vision for Europe’s digital transformation by 2030, naming it the “Digital Decade”. Covering skills, government, infrastructure and business, the broad strategy set out priorities and plans for Europe to improve its digital readiness and ultimately grow its economy.
Taking a closer look at the targets presented by the European Commission, a recent study by Public First, commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS), found that the digital decade could unlock more than €2.8 trillion in economic value, equivalent to 21% of the current economic value of the EU. the economy – through a “sustained and collective focus” on digital transformation in the public and private sectors.
Businesses and public bodies need to unleash the speed, scale and efficiency of existing digital tools, primarily by capitalizing on the tremendous power of cloud computing.
In practice, according to the report, this looks like companies and public bodies need to unleash the speed, scale and efficiency of existing digital tools, primarily by capitalizing on the massive power of cloud computing. It is predicted that, following the Path to the Digital Decade proposal, at least 75% of enterprises will adopt AI, cloud and big data technologies by 2030. In fact, the Public First study estimates that more than half (55%) of the potential impact of the Digital Decade program lies solely in promoting the adoption and use of cloud computing.
The starting point for wider deployment and use of the cloud is respect for long-standing European commercial values, at the center of which is the fundamental right to privacy. Data protection is at the heart of this, and it is what creates the foundation and the desire to build in the cloud.
Cloud adoption and the importance of data protection
Increasing cloud adoption is essential for the next generation of innovation in Europe. Cloud computing offers benefits such as accelerated innovation, better security, cost savings, and the ability to more easily build applications with the most advanced technologies such as machine learning, IoT, and databases. next generation data. It also brings sustainability benefits: 451 Research, an S&P company, found that European companies could reduce their energy consumption by almost 80% if they ran applications on AWS rather than in their own data centers. .
An International Data Corporation (IDC) white paper commissioned by AWS, Cloud of Trust: Overcoming the Tension Between Data Sovereignty and Accelerating Digital Transformationexamines the importance of the cloud in shaping the future of digital organizations in the EU and found that 40% of revenues reported by large European organizations will come from digital technology by 2025.
It is clear that there is a delicate balance to be found between improving operational efficiency, investing in digital innovation and focusing on business growth, especially in the context of sovereignty requirements. increasingly important data.
40% of revenues reported by major European organizations will be represented by digital technology by 2025.
As enterprises seek to accelerate their adoption of cloud technologies, secure information handling in the cloud has become a critical area of focus for many business leaders, from privacy to data protection to compliance. . AWS offers comprehensive services that can all be used in compliance with GDPR, adheres closely to EU-recognized third-party privacy standards such as ISO 27701 and the CISPE Data Protection Code of Conduct. This reassures businesses of all sizes that AWS is committed to ensuring businesses can control the privacy of all entrusted data, how that data is used, and who has access to it. Industry collaboration also offers more ways to empower organizations to control their data. For example, AWS is working with Salesforce to give organizations more choices about where encryption keys are located to help them meet European regulators’ recommendations for government jurisdictions.
Organizations can choose to store their data in one or more of AWS’s European regions in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, giving European organizations the ability to store their data in Europe and meet data sovereignty needs within the AWS global infrastructure. With the launch of AWS Local Zones in Amsterdam and Brussels, organizations now have even greater capacity to build applications with even lower latency while maintaining data residency.
Organizations can choose to store their data in one or more of AWS’s seven European regions in Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Paris, Stockholm and, most recently, Zurich, giving European organizations the flexibility to store their data in Europe. and meet data sovereignty needs.
European public and private sectors are reaping the benefits of the cloud
There are a multitude of reasons European customers are migrating or modernizing on AWS. In addition to reducing operational costs, they can act faster and transform customer experiences, pilot new innovations and business models, or implement their digital transformation plans.
The Flemish Roads Agency has cut costs in half, reduced infrastructure management time by 67%, and now tests and develops new solutions three times faster by moving to AWS. Dutch healthcare organization Zuidzorg saw operational costs reduced by 50% after migrating to AWS. PostNL reduced costs by 80% and delivery times from months to minutes, Philips built its HealthSuite platform on AWS to enable regulatory-compliant, secure and connected technology for electronic health data, and Wehkamp rolled out a new e-commerce platform during its expansion into Belgium, in just six months.
It’s not just large enterprises and government agencies that are turning to AWS for growth – many start-ups are cloud-based from the start, due to the demand and benefits of the technology for their customers.
And it’s not just large enterprises and public bodies that are turning to AWS for growth – many start-ups are cloud-based from the start, due to the technology’s demand and benefits for their customers. . In the Benelux, AWS works with high-growth companies such as Bynder, Collibra, Travelbird, Growy and Picnic, which are reinventing all industries in their own way while leveraging cloud technology for scale, security and speed .
Unlocking Europe’s future with the cloud
With only 26% of European businesses currently adopting key technologies such as cloud, 25% AI and 14% big data – according to the aforementioned Public First survey – harnessing the power of cutting-edge technologies will be crucial to accelerating Europe’s ambitions for the Digital Decade and fully unleashing its digital potential.
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