Shadow AI is emerging as a major business, security, and governance concern for healthcare, financial services, and public sector organizations, according to new data from Nutanix.

Nutanix, a leader in hybrid multicloud computing, released new regulated industry findings from its eighth annual Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) survey and research report. The industry reports examine how organizations are adapting infrastructure strategies to support growing AI adoption.

The findings show that AI adoption is accelerating across the three regulated sectors. However, many organizations report that their infrastructure is not ready to support AI workloads at scale.

At the same time, concerns around data sovereignty, compliance, organizational silos, and Shadow AI are increasing as organizations modernize their hybrid multicloud environments.

Nutanix EVP of Product Management Thomas Cornely said organizations are moving AI projects from experimentation toward business value. He added that infrastructure and operating models need to provide flexibility, resiliency, and security for traditional and AI-powered applications at scale.

AI governance becomes a regional priority

Shadow AI refers to the use of AI tools by employees or business units without approved IT governance or security oversight. Nutanix said this highlights governance gaps across regulated industries.

Organizational silos between business units and IT teams can further complicate AI usage and governance.

Mohammad Abulhouf, Vice President & GM, Middle East & Africa, Nutanix, said organizations across the region are using AI to improve services, accelerate innovation, and strengthen resilience.

He noted that as AI moves into everyday operations, data sovereignty, security, and governance are becoming essential foundations for adoption, particularly in healthcare, financial services, and the public sector.

Healthcare faces security and compliance pressure

Healthcare organizations are increasingly moving AI workloads closer to the point of care. According to Nutanix, application containerization is becoming foundational to support secure and portable environments while reducing cloud latency and protecting data sovereignty.

However, on-premises infrastructure readiness remains a key operational challenge.

The Nutanix ECI Healthcare Report found that 72% of healthcare IT leaders identify data sovereignty as a top infrastructure priority. Meanwhile, 83% view unauthorized Shadow AI tools as a critical business and data risk.

Over the next three years, healthcare organizations expect generative AI to be the leading AI capability, at 62%, followed by agentic AI or autonomous agents at 57%, and predictive analytics or machine learning models at 55%.

AI adoption in healthcare is being driven by efforts to improve operational efficiency, patient outcomes, and clinical and administrative workflows.

However, infrastructure readiness, Shadow AI, and operational barriers remain significant challenges. Containers are consequently playing a growing role in supporting AI while protecting sensitive patient information and meeting regulatory requirements.

Benjamin Urquhart, Chief Technology Officer, Five Horizons Health Services, said healthcare organizations need localized performance and resilience without compromising patient data privacy.

He added that organizations need to break down silos, align technology with clinical workflows, and maintain control over sensitive data. A hybrid approach, he said, can help lean IT teams simplify operations while balancing innovation, compliance, and performance.

Financial services prioritizes resilience

Financial institutions are deploying AI across core systems and edge operations. Applications include in-branch personalization, customer service, anomaly detection, and other use cases.

However, strict data sovereignty requirements are pushing financial organizations toward secure hybrid cloud architectures.

The Nutanix Financial Services ECI Report found that 86% of financial sector executives believe unmanaged Shadow AI tools introduce severe business risk.

Additionally, 62% of financial services IT leaders expect conversational and agentic AI to materially improve customer or employee experiences. The research also found that 90% of financial services IT leaders say AI is meaningfully accelerating container adoption.

Despite continued infrastructure modernization, data protection concerns are limiting public cloud use to 62%. This compares with 79% of financial services respondents identifying data sovereignty as a high-priority or must-have factor.

Nutanix said containers and hybrid infrastructure are emerging as important components for scaling AI responsibly across high-performance workloads. These include in-branch personalization, point-of-sale anomaly detection, and predictive ATM maintenance.

Dr. Caleb Ondrusek, EVP Technology and Innovation, Fairway Home Mortgage, said agentic AI can help streamline mortgage processes when deployed within a secure hybrid environment.

He added that this approach can provide the flexibility required to scale technology while maintaining governance and customer trust in a highly regulated industry.

Public sector faces infrastructure gaps

Government agencies are also turning to application containerization as they seek to improve the speed, scalability, and security of AI workloads.

However, organizational silos and unmanaged AI use continue to create risks.

The Nutanix Public Sector Report found that 91% of government and education IT leaders believe unvetted AI usage creates severe mission and security risks.

The research also found that 73% of public sector infrastructure is currently not ready to run complex AI workloads on-premises.

At the same time, 87% of public sector technology leaders expect their reliance on application containerization to increase over the next three years.

Public sector organizations, including federal, state, and local governments, K-12 institutions, and higher education, are incorporating AI into areas such as benefits eligibility and fraud detection.

Nevertheless, infrastructure readiness, workforce capabilities, and governance remain barriers. Nutanix said this is increasing the need for modernized hybrid infrastructure capable of supporting the sector’s growing AI requirements.

Shane McDaniel, Chief Information Officer, City of Seguin, Texas, said AI tools can help public sector employees serve communities more effectively.

However, he stressed that enthusiasm without appropriate guardrails can create risk. He described Shadow AI as both a security concern and a governance gap, adding that infrastructure modernization, digital policies, and organizational culture can help employees use AI within a secure and compliant framework.

Research methodology

For the eighth consecutive year, Nutanix commissioned a global study examining cloud adoption, containerization, and GenAI application deployment.

The survey was conducted in November 2025 by Wakefield Research. It gathered responses from 1,600 cloud, IT, and engineering executives with at least manager-level positions.

Respondents represented organizations with 500 or more employees across Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The findings underline the growing pressure on regulated industries to modernize infrastructure while maintaining security, compliance, resilience, and control over sensitive data. As AI adoption expands, managing Shadow AI will remain a key part of responsible enterprise AI governance.

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