"Too much bureaucracy"

Digitalization in Austria is stagnating according to Drei

While digitalization in Austria made progress at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it has stagnated since then. This is the conclusion of the "Digitalization Index 2024" published on Friday, which was commissioned by telecommunications operator Drei. Although larger companies are developing positively, smaller companies are falling behind.

The much-discussed topic of artificial intelligence was highlighted in particular. According to the index, eight percent of all Austrian companies now use AI, most likely for customer communication. How AI is used in practice is also becoming more and more concrete - for example for text creation, chatbots and image processing.

However, 74 percent of all companies do not believe that the use of AI can save on personnel costs. "AI is a major factor in boosting the Austrian economy," said Drei CEO Rudolf Schrefl at a press conference.

Drei boss criticizes bureaucratic hurdles
Above all, more information and advice is needed. But bureaucratic hurdles also need to be removed. According to the index, the use of AI in large companies with more than 100 employees is at 20 percent - in smaller companies at five percent. "The incredible volume of data processing regulations in Austria makes it extremely difficult to use AI efficiently. Larger companies are more able to cope with the time and risk involved than smaller ones," said Schrefl.

The topic of cloudification, i.e. the relocation of IT resources, applications and services to a network of servers connected via the internet, also receives too little attention in Austria. The proportion of companies that do not consider cloud services to be relevant or not relevant at all is still too high at 50 percent.

In addition, only around one in ten companies use the so-called Internet of Things, i.e. the networking of physical devices and objects with the internet. "The call for advice is greater than ever before. The new government would be well advised to take the needs of companies in Austria seriously," said Schrefl.