IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/opques/qef_946_25.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Embracing the digital transition: the adoption of cloud computing and AI by Italian firms

Author

Listed:
  • Lorenzo Bencivelli

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Sara Formai

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Elena Mattevi

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Tullia Padellini

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

The diffusion of advanced digital technologies is reshaping the organization and performance of firms, yet comprehensive evidence on their adoption remains scarce. This paper draws on data from Banca d'Italia's business surveys to assess the uptake of cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) among Italian firms. As of early 2024, over 50 per cent of firms with at least 20 employees had adopted cloud services, showing minimal variation across sectors and suggesting that this technology is becoming standard infrastructure. AI adoption remains more limited – rising from 4 per cent in 2020 to 13 per cent in 2024 – and tends to be experimental or task-specific. Adoption rates are strongly associated with firm size, export activity, group affiliation, and innovation capacity. Managerial quality and prior digital investments also influence AI uptake. Expectations about generative AI point to job transformation rather than displacement. Accordingly, the analysis reveals that digital technology adoption is positively correlated with realized and expected employment growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorenzo Bencivelli & Sara Formai & Elena Mattevi & Tullia Padellini, 2025. "Embracing the digital transition: the adoption of cloud computing and AI by Italian firms," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 946, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_946_25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/qef/2025-0946/QEF_946_25.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    digital technologies; cloud computing; artificial intelligence; generative AI; firm performance; business surveys;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_946_25. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.