Nutanix has released its eighth annual Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI), revealing that the explosive growth of AI in the enterprise is accelerating container adoption while simultaneously introducing new operational challenges. The report, based on global research across 1,600 IT and engineering leaders, highlights a rise in organizational silos, shadow IT, and growing concerns around data sovereignty all of which are reshaping infrastructure strategies.
With 85% of respondents reporting that AI is directly speeding up their adoption of containers, enterprises are rapidly modernizing their environments to support the next wave of AI-enabled workloads. Containers, with their portability and scalability, have become foundational to modern application development, and the survey indicates this trend will intensify: 87% expect container usage to increase over the next three years.
“The findings indicate organizations need enterprise-grade security, resilience, and portability as AI workloads can run anywhere,” said Lee Caswell, SVP of Product and Solutions Marketing at Nutanix. He added that a unified operational model for virtual machines and containers is becoming essential as hybrid and multicloud architectures evolve.
“Organizations are racing ahead with AI, but many are discovering their infrastructure and operating models aren’t keeping up.”
— Mohammad Abulhouf, VP & GM, Middle East & Africa, Nutanix
However, the report also exposes new risks emerging from the AI surge. Eighty‑two percent of IT leaders say silos between IT teams and business units slow technology initiatives and complicate AI deployments. Meanwhile, 79% have encountered AI applications or agents deployed without IT’s knowledge, with 87% warning that unauthorized AI introduces serious risks from data exposure to compliance violations.
Despite these challenges, optimism around AI remains strong. Sixty‑one percent expect AI agents to enhance customer or employee experiences, and more than half foresee AI agents driving new revenue opportunities. Yet, readiness gaps persist: 82% of respondents believe their current infrastructure is not fully prepared to support on‑premises AI workloads.
Data sovereignty is also shaping infrastructure strategy. With 80% placing high priority on sovereignty requirements, many organizations are choosing to keep data and sometimes the entire application stack within national borders.
“Across the Middle East and Africa, AI adoption is moving from experimentation to execution,” said Mohammad Abulhouf. “But to scale AI safely and confidently, organizations need consistent, enterprise-grade platforms that unify IT and the business.”
The full 2026 ECI report offers deeper insights into how organizations are modernizing for AI-driven transformation.
