Harnessing cloud, powering AI and controlling costs

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Cloud has evolved from a flexible IT backbone into the foundation of digital transformation, Artificial Intelligence innovation, and business resilience. But as the technology matures, new pressures – from geopolitics to regulation and rising costs – are forcing leaders to rethink how they use it.

PwC’s 2025 EMEA Cloud Business Survey explores how more than 1,400 business and technology leaders across 26 territories in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are navigating this reality – and what defines success in the next era of cloud.

Belgian organisations are clearly in a mature phase of cloud adoption, broadly aligned with the EMEA trend but with a strong focus on AI, cost optimisation and sovereignty.

• Cloud is everywhere 
  All Belgian respondents use cloud and over 75% use it in most or all of their organisation.

• AI built on cloud 
  More than 50% of Belgian respondents already use cloud services for AI/machine learning (ML) workloads, with another 20% planning to do so in the next 12 months.

• Budgets are growing – with pressure on value 
  Over 85% expect their cloud budget to grow in the next 12 months, while 88% report increased cloud usage driven by AI/ML requirements.

These figures confirm that cloud is now a strategic backbone for Belgian organisations and that the next challenge is to maximise value, control cost and manage risk.

With more than 70% of respondents already running AI/ML workloads in the cloud or planning to follow soon, AI is increasingly consuming cloud rather than sitting next to it. This means organisations should design their cloud architecture with AI in mind: scalable data platforms, modern enterprise data architectures and secure access to GPU/AI services. Rather than adding AI as an afterthought, companies should tailor their cloud services to their desired AI capabilities and technology so they can tap into the latest AI innovations quickly and safely.

More than 85% of Belgian respondents expect cloud budgets to grow and 88% see AI/ML as a key driver for increased cloud usage. Combined with multi-cloud adoption (over 70% of respondents), this makes cost control and transparency more complex. Simply ‘moving to cloud’ does not guarantee savings, the highest priority for Belgian respondents. Even more: without governance, it can lead to overspend. FinOps brings financial discipline to the cloud, aligning business, finance and technology to proactively manage expenditure, forecasting and drive business value. PwC helps organisations implement FinOps practices and tooling, leveraging a proven framework and our extensive business and technology experience to maximise value from cloud investments without slowing innovation.

Around 40% of Belgian respondents already use sovereign cloud solutions as part of their cloud stack. Their main drivers are compliance, regulation and data sovereignty concerns. This shows that sovereignty is no longer a niche topic but a strategic design choice. Organisations now need to understand not only where data resides, but also which legal, organisational and technical controls apply. Beyond choosing a ‘sovereign’ label, they need a trusted partner in sovereignty to guide them through the complex landscape of data, organisational and technical sovereignty, ensuring compliance while keeping agility and innovation.

Belgian organisations have firmly embraced cloud and are broadly aligned with the EMEA picture: cloud is ubiquitous, AI/ML workloads are rising quickly and budgets are growing. The challenge for 2025 is to turn this foundation into sustained value by:

• Building AI on a robust, modern cloud and data platform,

• Applying FinOps to maximise business value from cloud investments, and

• Embedding sovereignty, compliance and governance into the cloud strategy from the start. 

Cloud is no longer just an IT decision — it is a business, regulatory and financial decision that requires end-to-end governance and trusted expertise.

PwC supports Belgian organisations throughout their cloud journey:

• Enable cloud to support AI services at full potential 
  We help design and modernise cloud and enterprise data platforms so AI/ML workloads can scale securely and efficiently, unlocking faster access to the latest AI technologies.

• Embrace FinOps and look for cost optimisations across the entire organisation 
  By implementing FinOps practices, operating models and tooling, we help you gain visibility on your expenditure, forecast accurately and optimise costs across multi-cloud environments ensuring every decision maximises business value from your cloud strategy.

• Rely on a trusted partner in times of uncertainty regarding compliance and regulation 
  We guide organisations through the regulatory and sovereignty landscape — data, organisational and technical — designing cloud and sovereign cloud solutions that are compliant, resilient and future-proof.

PwC combines business, technology and regulatory expertise to help you turn your cloud and AI investments into measurable, sustainable value.