Bots and banknotes

Romanian businesses are rapidly adopting AI technology, while their customers and budgets approach it more cautiously. PayU, a payment processor, reports that cash transactions still make up 55-60% of payments in the country, slightly down from around 65% in previous years. Despite this shift towards digital payments, consumer readiness remains hindered by trust, security concerns, and old habits, as highlighted at InnVolve 2026, an event organized by Innobyte.

Executives, investors, and entrepreneurs discussed how AI is transitioning from experimentation to daily operations, but the pace of consumer habits, financing, and internal processes lags behind. The issue of financing AI adoption was raised by Robert Berza of The Edge Institute, who advised firms to prepare for potential government support, as public budgets are constrained.

Marius Petrache, founder of Marcoser, an agricultural consultancy, highlighted that AI helped overcome a labor shortage by boosting productivity without hiring more staff. Sergiu Neguț, co-founder of FintechOS, emphasized that successful technology adoption often involves applying it to businesses they already understand. Ioanna Christopoulou of L'Oréal stressed the importance of measuring marketing channels' true impact, considering factors like profitability, retention, customer lifetime value, and incrementality.

Carlos Davidovich, a leadership expert, suggested that the brain needs only 50 milliseconds to decide whether to engage with a website, and conversion depends on visual cues and trust. Radu Georgescu noted that capital is flowing towards a select few AI companies that outperform benchmarks, while others face difficulties securing funding.

Marius Ghenea, managing partner at Catalyst Romania, pointed out that a country's investment climate has less impact on early-stage firms, but larger investments might depend more on investment-grade status. These insights suggest that AI, consumer behavior, financing, talent, payments, and investment are increasingly interconnected issues that require comprehensive management decisions rather than isolated technological or e-commerce strategies.