Artificial intelligence is redefining business development, productivity and corporate innovation on a global scale. According to the latest study by Adigital, 27% of Spain’s GDP is already generated by the digital economy, an increase of 8 percentage points since 2019. More specifically, the European Commission estimates that the data market and its exploitation could have a direct impact equivalent to 5% of European GDP by 2030.
Europe also remains a global leader among open economies in the export of goods and services, ahead of China and the United States. Added to this is a regulatory and social protection environment typical of the world’s most advanced and open societies.
We therefore have a favourable environment for accelerating digitalisation and innovation. However, significant structural challenges remain: a still-incomplete Digital Single Market, internal barriers to scalability, and a significant dependence on critical technologies — particularly AI — largely controlled by non-European corporations.
Europe needs sovereign digital infrastructures to compete in the AI era
Against this backdrop, European companies need to rely on major European tech champions capable of accelerating innovation and ensuring competitiveness in the medium and long term. Telefónica — alongside companies such as SAP and Siemens — can play a strategic role in this scenario.
These players must provide robust technological infrastructures built on three main pillars:
- Technological sovereignty, bringing computing closer through Edge nodes and enabling distributed learning and inference processes.
- Open architectures, promoting non-proprietary standards and fostering interoperability and data spaces.
- Resilience and security, ensuring the availability of advanced networks such as 5G, fibre or NTN, as well as inference environments protected against cyberattacks.
AI will not be competitive without advanced connectivity, distributed computing and secure data processing capabilities.
The customer experience is already being transformed thanks to artificial intelligence
Another key aspect is how companies are using AI to improve the customer experience and gain a competitive edge.
AI is enabling a shift from reactive models towards predictive and explanatory models. The true value lies not only in automating tasks, but in better understanding the profitability of services, optimising business decisions and building advanced data-driven business intelligence.
At Telefónica, within the business development and marketing departments, we continue to learn day by day how to incorporate AI internally: breaking down silos between product, sales and business; exploring increasingly collaborative use cases; and building dashboards and OKRs focused on real impact.
The aim is not to work faster, but to make better decisions. That is the true purpose of AI.
The risk of AI without a strategy: expensive and unprofitable projects
One of the main challenges today is to avoid a superficial or haphazard adoption of artificial intelligence.
We do not yet know whether AI — particularly generative AI — will destroy more jobs than it creates. Studies remain contradictory. But it does seem clear that implementation without governance or discernment can lead to significant profitability issues.
The mass and indiscriminate consumption of generative models and tokens does not guarantee efficiency or business intelligence. In fact, many companies are already beginning to face hefty bills resulting from projects driven by technological trends rather than a clear strategy.
AI will not massively replace tech talent. What companies will really need is critical, curious talent capable of using AI as a tool for distinctive innovation.
Because AI is not about obeying chatbots. It is about building business capabilities underpinned by data, judgement and explainable models.
Talent and a culture of innovation will make the competitive difference
Organisations that cut jobs solely on the grounds of AI will likely end up undermining their own competitive capacity.
True business transformation involves building organisational models where human talent and artificial intelligence work in an integrated manner. The aim is not to replace people, but to accelerate capabilities, foster innovation and develop new business models.
The companies that generate value will be those capable of combining:
- Specialised talent.
- A culture of innovation.
- Advanced data exploitation.
- Technology governance.
- Explainable and trustworthy AI.
We are only at the beginning of this transition.
AI opens up endless business opportunities for companies
From an external perspective, Telefónica also has a responsibility to support companies in their AI-driven transformation and innovation processes.
We are privileged to observe how different sectors are incorporating artificial intelligence models into their operations, products and services. And we actively collaborate in driving this transformation thanks to multi-sector experience accumulated over many years.
AI and data now represent a new competitive frontier for Spanish companies. But this transformation cannot be approached in an improvised or haphazard manner. It requires strategy, methodology and a long-term vision.
The opportunities are enormous. The key will lie in knowing how to iterate, experiment and identify use cases capable of generating real business impact.
Because we are only just getting started.
Our value proposition
At Telefónica, we help businesses accelerate their digital transformation through solutions based on artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, connectivity, cloud and data spaces. We combine leading technological infrastructure, multi-sector innovation capabilities and a European vision of responsible AI to drive more competitive, secure and sustainable business models.
Telefónica drives enterprise AI from a European perspective: sovereign infrastructure, advanced connectivity, edge computing and responsible artificial intelligence to turn data into growth, innovation and a real competitive advantage.
In this context, Telefónica is taking on the challenge of becoming the best gateway for businesses and society to access digital technologies. Through advanced infrastructure, state-of-the-art connectivity, artificial intelligence capabilities, and a firm commitment to innovation, we are helping to strengthen European technological sovereignty and foster a business ecosystem that is more competitive, resilient, and prepared for the future. Because the true potential of AI lies not only in the technology itself, but in the ability to put it at the service of people, organizations, and Europe’s sustainable growth.
