One in six Dutch companies now uses AI, doubling since 2023

One in six Dutch companies now uses AI - here's what that means for revenue and operations

AI adoption in the Netherlands has doubled since 2023. In 2025, one in six companies is using AI, according to CBS. Large companies lead (66 percent), while mid-sized firms are catching up fast (45 percent). Small businesses are the laggards-and that's where the competitive gap will widen next.

Where AI is actually used (and where it isn't)

The biggest wins are in marketing and sales (35 percent): content, campaigns, lead gen, and customer insights. Administration and management follow at 32 percent, where automation and reporting save hours. Research and innovation sits at 25 percent. Logistics barely moves the needle at 4 percent.

Sector differences are sharp. Nearly half of trade companies and around 40 percent of firms in information and communication, and business services use AI for marketing or sales. More than half of financial services apply AI in administration. Hospitality, transport, storage, and construction are lowest at 6 to 7 percent.

The tech behind the usage

Text mining is out front at 12 percent, up from 4 percent in 2023-think customer feedback, support tickets, and reviews turned into clean insights. Natural language generation sits at 8 percent for emails, ads, reports, and product descriptions. Speech recognition tripled to 6 percent, useful for call notes and routing. Machine learning and robotic process automation are also rising steadily.

Why many still hold back

Despite the growth, three-quarters of companies aren't using AI. Of those who explored it but didn't adopt, 73 percent lack experience, 49 percent worry about privacy, and 42 percent cite legal uncertainty. As Job van den Berg of AI.nl put it: "We are falling far behind. In the U.S., companies are reinventing themselves, convinced that 60 to 70 percent of office work can be done by AI. That kind of drive is clearly not present here."

How the Netherlands stacks up

Across the EU, 20 percent of companies with at least 10 employees used AI in 2025, up from 13.5 percent in 2024, per Eurostat. The Netherlands sits below that average. The implication is simple: if you move now, you gain share while others hesitate.

Quick wins for Marketing, Sales, and Ops

• Marketing: Use text mining to analyze reviews, comments, and support chats. Generate ad and email variants with NLG, A/B test weekly, and feed winners back into your models.
• Sales: Score leads with simple ML (start with rule-based if needed), summarize calls with speech-to-text, and auto-log CRM notes. Route hot leads within minutes, not hours.
• Customer success: Deploy AI triage for tickets, create draft responses, and surface churn risks from sentiment trends.
• Finance/Admin: Automate invoice capture and approvals with RPA, standardize report generation, and flag anomalies early.
• Product/R&D: Mine feedback for feature requests, generate first-draft specs, and cluster bug reports to speed fixes.

Your 30-day plan (simple and practical)

• Days 1-5: Pick one use case tied to revenue or cost (e.g., ad copy generation, invoice processing). Define the KPI (CPL, conversion rate, cycle time, accuracy).
• Days 6-10: Map the data you already have. Limit scope to one channel or process. Write a one-page process doc.
• Days 11-20: Pilot with off-the-shelf tools. Set a baseline and compare to manual. Keep a human in the loop.
• Days 21-25: Run a quick privacy and legal check. Document data flows, retention, and vendor terms. Add access controls.
• Days 26-30: Decide: scale, iterate, or kill. If scaling, train two internal champions and formalize the SOP.

Governance that won't slow you down

• Publish a one-page AI policy: approved tools, data rules, human review, and escalation paths.
• Do a lightweight DPIA for anything touching customer data. Keep logs of prompts, outputs, and decisions.
• Assign ownership: a product owner for the use case, IT for access, legal for compliance. Meet biweekly for 15 minutes.

Signals you're doing it right

• Content velocity up 2-3x with stable quality scores and lower CPL.
• Sales admin time down 30-50 percent; more live selling, faster follow-ups.
• Ticket resolution time down; CSAT steady or rising.
• Month-end close faster with fewer manual touchpoints.

Where to skill up fast

If lack of experience is blocking you, fix that first. Start with focused, job-specific training your team can apply this week.

• AI courses by job role - pick tracks for marketing, sales, or ops.
• AI Certification for Marketing Specialists - practical workflows for campaigns, content, and analytics.

Bottom line

The data is clear: marketing, sales, and admin are where AI pays off first. Start small, measure hard, and scale what works. The gap is execution, not ideas.