Nutanix has released the findings of its eighth annual Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) report, revealing that the rapid growth of artificial intelligence adoption is significantly accelerating container usage across enterprises. However, the study also highlights new risks emerging from organizational silos, shadow IT practices, and infrastructure readiness gaps.
The global survey shows that AI is becoming a major driver of enterprise infrastructure modernization, pushing companies to adopt containerized environments to support scalable and efficient application development. According to the report, 85% of respondents say AI initiatives are accelerating container adoption, while 83% are already building new applications using containers. Additionally, 87% expect container usage to increase further over the next three years, reinforcing their role as a foundation for modern, AI-enabled applications.
Despite the growing momentum around AI and container technologies, many organizations face operational challenges. Organizational silos between IT teams and business units remain a significant barrier, with 82% of respondents saying these divisions slow down technology deployments and increase complexity. These silos can create additional risks when implementing AI systems across enterprise environments.
Another key concern identified in the report is the rise of shadow IT, particularly related to AI tools. Nearly 79% of organizations report that employees outside the IT department are implementing AI applications or agents without formal oversight. Meanwhile, 87% of respondents believe unauthorized AI usage could expose sensitive data or intellectual property, highlighting the need for stronger governance and collaboration between IT teams and business units.
The study also shows strong optimism around the role of AI agents in business transformation. About 61% of IT executives believe AI agents will significantly enhance customer and employee experiences, while 58% expect them to improve productivity and operational efficiency. In addition, 57% see AI agents as a potential driver for new products, services, or revenue opportunities.
Data sovereignty is another critical factor influencing enterprise infrastructure strategies. Eighty percent of respondents consider data sovereignty a top priority, with many organizations choosing to keep data within national borders to meet compliance and security requirements.
However, infrastructure readiness remains a major challenge. Although 59% of organizations expect to deploy more than five AI-powered applications within the next three years, 82% admit their current infrastructure is not fully prepared to support AI workloads on-premises.
The Enterprise Cloud Index survey, conducted by Wakefield Research in November 2025, gathered insights from 1,600 IT, cloud, and engineering executives across major global markets including the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Singapore.
Overall, the report underscores that while AI adoption is accelerating innovation and container-based architectures, enterprises must strengthen infrastructure, governance, and cross-team collaboration to scale AI safely and effectively.
