Nearly two-thirds (65%) of Central and Eastern European (EEC) companies operating in different industries confirm that digitalization is a priority in achieving immediate goals, such as reducing costs, increasing productivity and competitiveness, according to a survey conducted by international law firm CMS, quoted by Agerpres.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, 38% of respondents have completed or initiated new digitalization projects, while 45% say the pandemic has served to accelerate ongoing projects.
Also, the majority (92%) of companies believe that the pandemic will accelerate future digital changes in their businesses and almost two-thirds (65%) anticipate an increase in IT budgets next year to support digitalization.
On the other hand, only 6% of companies have delayed their digital projects due to the pandemic.
According to the CMS survey, just over half (58%) of respondents said they already use Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions, while 83% plan to invest in this segment.
In the same context, 86% of all respondents are concerned about possible issues of legal liability, and six out of ten companies are concerned or very concerned about security risks.
“Currently, only 4% of respondents believe that AI is over-regulated, while more than half (60%) would like more guidance and regulations on AI to be implemented,” the survey data show.
According to the quoted source, 80% of companies consider that data is extremely important, three quarters either investing currently in data analysis (62%) or planning to invest in the near future (12%).
Also, just 1% of those surveyed say they do not consider ethics an integral part of the way they conduct their business. Data protection, consideration of human cost and decision-making on brand values are ethical issues that almost all respondents (98%) agree are part of their current corporate guidelines and policies.
The CMS CEE Digital Horizons survey was conducted in July and August this year on a sample of almost 100 companies whose operations include 18 countries in the EEC region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Founded in 1999, CMS is an integrated, multi-jurisdictional organization of law firms that provides comprehensive legal and tax consulting services with more than 70 offices in 40 countries and more than 4,800 lawyers.