Stalled companies that struggle to harness the power of AI, employees introducing AI tools without IT’s knowledge, and a strong emphasis on data sovereignty for both infrastructure and container usage. These are the headline findings from Nutanix’s new Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) report.
“Many organizations find it difficult to carry out AI projects when increased collaboration across departments is required. It is also common today for employees to bring AI tools into their workflows on their own initiative, without informing the IT department. This exposes companies to risks, and they need to address these vulnerabilities,” says Mats Ericson, Regional Manager for the Nordics and Baltics at Nutanix.
The Enterprise Cloud Index surveyed 1,600 IT leaders at companies with more than 500 employees about cloud services, containers and generative AI. Responses make it clear that the AI boom is driving organizations to modernize IT infrastructure so they can build and operate applications more efficiently. A full 85 percent of respondents say containers—technology that enables efficient deployment and operation of modern applications—have become an important part of enterprise IT infrastructure.
“Organizations need improved security and greater flexibility because AI can run anywhere. A unified platform for virtual machines and containers would help more IT leaders build AI solutions securely across both cloud and on‑premises data centers,” says Mats Ericson.
Key findings from this year’s report:
Organizational silos create new AI risks: AI brings innovation but also practical challenges. 82 percent of respondents say that a lack of collaboration between business units and IT makes it harder to complete technology projects, slowing progress and adding complexity.
Employees introduce their own AI tools: 79 percent of IT leaders encounter employees bringing AI tools into the workplace independently—so‑called shadow IT. 87 percent believe this creates risks, such as leakage of sensitive data or corporate secrets.
Significant potential for AI agents: A majority of IT leaders (61 percent) believe AI agents will improve experiences for customers and employees. 58 percent expect AI agents to boost productivity and efficiency, and 57 percent see opportunities to create new products, services or revenue streams using AI agents.
Data sovereignty is a top priority: 80 percent consider the physical location of data when deciding on infrastructure and containers. More than half (57 percent) prefer infrastructure hosted within a single country—either on‑premises or in a local cloud—primarily for security and privacy reasons.
Containers are becoming the standard: Organizations are investing in containers to handle AI and modern applications. 87 percent expect container usage to grow over the next three years, and 83 percent are already building new applications with containers. 85 percent say AI is driving container adoption, underlining the need to modernize enterprise IT infrastructure.
Top‑down demand, but infrastructure lags: 59 percent of IT leaders expect their companies to run more than five AI‑enabled applications within three years. Yet 82 percent feel current infrastructure is not fully prepared to handle AI workloads on‑premises.
About the survey
Nutanix has conducted this global survey on cloud services, containers and generative AI for the eighth consecutive year. Wakefield Research interviewed 1,600 cloud, IT and technology leaders in November 2025 from companies with at least 500 employees across 14 countries, including Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UK and the USA.
The full report is available from Nutanix.