Nutanix released healthcare research findings showing widespread use of unapproved AI tools across healthcare organizations and AI adoption outpacing infrastructure readiness.
In the healthcare portion of the Enterprise Cloud Index study, 79% of healthcare organizations said they had encountered an AI application or agent deployed by staff outside of IT oversight. Additionally, 83% say AI tools and agents that operate beyond public control create business risks, and the same percentage say silos between business units and IT make it difficult to execute on technology initiatives.
The numbers show that some sectors are struggling to keep governance, infrastructure and data management in line as they seek to expand the use of AI. Healthcare providers face particular pressure because their clinical and administrative systems handle sensitive patient information and often require low-latency access to data.
One of the most obvious gaps concerns on-premises systems. According to Nutanix, 88% of healthcare IT leaders do not believe their current infrastructure is fully ready to support AI workloads in the field, despite the growing importance of local processing in clinical settings where delays can impact healthcare.
The report argues that AI is moving closer to where care is delivered, rather than being confined to centralized systems or remote cloud environments. As a result, infrastructure constraints are becoming more pronounced as hospitals and clinics need to run applications closer to devices, record systems, and staff workflows.
Point of care pressure
Nutanix research shows that a private hospital room can generate up to 7TB of data per year, while an intensive care bed can use 15 to 20 connected devices. This situation increases the need for systems that can process data locally and consistently, especially when interruptions and wait times can disrupt clinical operations.
The study also found that AI is impacting application design. Approximately 86% of healthcare organizations say AI is significantly accelerating container adoption, 81% expect to increase containerization of applications, and 80% are already building new applications with containers.
This is important because containers are increasingly being used to package and run software in a variety of environments, including on-premises infrastructure and private clouds. For healthcare organizations, this approach helps support software deployment across distributed clinical sites while keeping data within the local environment.
Governance concerns
Data sovereignty remains a central issue. The survey found that 72% of healthcare organizations consider infrastructure a top priority or essential element in their infrastructure decisions. Meanwhile, 54% run containerized applications on-premises or in a private cloud, and the same percentage said stakeholder expectations require them to keep their infrastructure in one country.
These answers reflect the constraints healthcare organizations face when deciding where patient information can be stored and processed. It also suggests that cloud adoption in this sector is shaped not only by cost and flexibility, but also by regulations, internal policies, and public trust.
The report also notes that interest in AI agents is growing. According to Nutanix research, 58% of healthcare IT leaders expect AI agents to improve productivity and efficiency, 57% believe AI agents will transform business processes and operations, and 55% believe they could lead to new products, services, or revenue streams.
Looking ahead, 57% of organizations say they expect to use agent AI or autonomous agents within three years. The same outlook found that 62% expect to use generative AI and 55% expect predictive analytics or machine learning models.
Introduction scale
Research suggests that adoption is already widespread and could expand rapidly. More than half (55%) of healthcare organizations expect to have five or more AI-enabled applications in place within three years, with 12% expecting to have ten or more AI-enabled applications running.
Managed service providers are also playing a large role in current deployments. Nutanix found that 63% of respondents currently run their AI applications at a managed service provider. This indicates that hybrid operating models are likely to remain common as medical groups balance central systems with local requirements.
The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,600 cloud, IT, and engineering executives from organizations with 500 or more employees across multiple countries. Healthcare findings are drawn from a broader global sample of respondents.
Commenting on the results, Daryush Ashjali, APJ Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Solutions Engineering at Nutanix, said, “Healthcare organizations across APJ are under increasing pressure to implement AI, but clinician demand is in conflict with the readiness of the underlying infrastructure. The impact can extend beyond IT, impacting the availability of critical systems, access to data, and ultimately continuity of patient care.The priority for healthcare leaders is to move away from reactive management and create integrated, unified systems.” A hybrid approach that bridges the gap between data sovereignty compliance and the real-time, low-latency insights needed at the patient bedside. ”
