Press Release – Nutanix
. This year’s report takes a closer look at the challenges IT executives face as they address the rapid increase in the use of AI within their enterprises and the need to modernize applications and infrastructure.
- Shadow IT creates business risks and security challenges
- Data sovereignty is non-negotiable for Australian organizations
- Containers are the foundation of modern applications, and AI will be a key driver
Sydney, Australia – March 4, 2026 – Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in hybrid multicloud computing, today announced the Australian findings of its 8th annual Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) survey and research report, which measures the progress of global enterprise cloud adoption. This year’s report takes a closer look at the challenges IT executives face as they address the rapid increase in the use of AI within their enterprises and the need to modernize applications and infrastructure.
The rapid increase in enterprise AI adoption over the past year has led to a wave of infrastructure modernization as companies race to build and run more efficient applications. In fact, containers have become a core component of enterprise application strategies, with 90% of Australian respondents agreeing that AI is accelerating container adoption to improve speed, reliability, and scalability.
“It’s clear that Australian organizations are ready to embrace AI, but it requires resilient, reliable and well-managed infrastructure. Containerization has emerged as a fundamental pillar of local AI and application strategies, but broader adoption requires a rethink of the underlying infrastructure,” said Michael Alp, Managing Director, A/NZ at Nutanix. “Rather than managing two-speed infrastructure stacks, having a common operating environment to manage both containerized and traditional workloads would address key concerns such as shadow IT and data sovereignty.”
Key findings from this year’s report include:
- Shadow IT raises AI challenges and security concerns. 72% of respondents have encountered AI applications or agents implemented by employees in departments other than IT. Almost all local leaders (92%) believe that the misuse of AI poses risks such as leaking sensitive data and intellectual property. This highlights the need for close collaboration between IT teams and business stakeholders to keep AI deployments secure, compliant, and aligned with organizational goals.
- Organizational silos create new AI risks. While the adoption of AI is driving innovation, it is also creating operational challenges. A majority of local respondents (84%) believe that silos between business units and IT make it difficult to effectively execute technology initiatives, delay implementation timelines, and increase complexity.
- Agents unlock huge potential for your organization. Most Australian IT executives (70%) also expect AI agents to improve productivity and efficiency. 62% expect AI agents to improve the customer or employee experience. Additionally, some believe AI agents could play a deeper role, with 58% believing AI agents could create new products, services, or revenue streams.
- Data sovereignty is non-negotiable. For 89% of Australian respondents, data sovereignty is a top priority when making infrastructure decisions, such as where to utilize containers. This compares to 80% worldwide. More than half (60%) of local government leaders feel the need to run their infrastructure domestically, either on-premises or through a local cloud region, primarily due to security or data protection concerns.
- Containers are the foundation of modern applications, and AI is a key driver. Organizations are turning to containers to support AI-enabled workloads and modern application development. Eighty-five percent of respondents expect the use of containers in applications to increase over the next three years, and 66 percent say they are already building new and legacy applications with containers. Nine out of 10 respondents believe that AI is accelerating container adoption, highlighting why enterprises need to evolve their infrastructure strategies to handle containerized workloads.
- The directive to deploy an AI application comes from the top, but the infrastructure isn’t fully ready to support it. Almost half of respondents (48%) expect their organization to have five or more AI-enabled applications in the next three years. However, if organizations need to deploy AI workloads on-premises, 87% believe their current infrastructure is not fully prepared to support this.
For the eighth year in a row, Nutanix commissioned a global research study to assess the state of cloud adoption, containerization, and GenAI application deployment. The survey, conducted by Wakefield Research in November 2025, gathered responses from 1,600 cloud, IT, and engineering executives with at least manager-level positions. Respondents represent organizations with more than 500 employees in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
For more information on the report and findings, download the full 8th ECI Annual Report here.
About Nutanix
Nutanix is a leader in hybrid multicloud computing, providing organizations with a unified software platform to run applications, AI, and manage data anywhere. Nutanix enables organizations to simplify the operation of traditional and modern applications, freeing them to focus on their business goals. Trusted by more than 29,000 customers worldwide, Nutanix helps organizations digitally transform and power their hybrid multicloud environments consistently, simply and cost-effectively.
Content source scoop.co.nz
Original URL
