Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), a hybrid multicloud computing firm, has announced the findings of its seventh annual Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) survey. This global study tracks enterprise cloud adoption, with this year’s report focusing on Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) adoption, investment priorities, and the challenges organizations face in addressing emerging workloads. The survey reveals key trends in Saudi Arabia, highlighting the nation’s rapid embrace of cloud-native technologies and GenAI.
Key Findings from Saudi Arabia:
Application Containerization on the Rise A significant 100% of Saudi Arabian respondents in the survey report that their organizations are either in the process of or have already containerized their applications. A notable 96% of respondents agree that adopting cloud-native applications and containers has benefited their organizations. Databases are the most containerized workloads, followed by GenAI applications and Dev/Test apps. Despite these advancements, respondents face challenges related to IT infrastructure modernization, application development, and workforce skilling.
GenAI Strategy Implementation Shows High Adoption In Saudi Arabia, 100% of organizations have already developed a GenAI strategy, with 60% actively implementing it—well above the global and EMEA averages. The primary business goals for GenAI adoption include boosting productivity, fostering innovation, and enhancing automation and efficiency. However, many organizations remain skeptical about the long-term return on investment (ROI), with 26% expecting to break even or incur losses from GenAI projects within the next year, and 35% forecasting a similar outcome in the next 1-3 years.
Challenges in Scaling GenAI Workloads Nearly 80% of respondents believe that GenAI adoption presents challenges, mainly due to skill gaps. The top challenge in scaling GenAI from development to production is a lack of necessary AI skills. A further 34% cite the complexity of building GenAI environments from scratch as a significant hurdle. To address these challenges, 62% of respondents indicate their organizations will need to invest in IT training over the next 1-3 years.
Performance & Scalability Outweigh Security Concerns While data privacy and security concerns are critical, Saudi organizations prioritize performance and scalability when implementing GenAI. A significant 98% of respondents believe their organizations could be doing more to secure their GenAI models. Additionally, 92% agree that GenAI is changing organizational priorities, with security and privacy becoming higher priorities moving forward.
Talal Alsaif, Sales Director for Central Gulf & North Africa at Nutanix, commented, “The survey results underscore the significant opportunities and challenges GenAI presents for organizations in Saudi Arabia. While there is enthusiasm for leveraging GenAI to improve productivity, automation, and innovation, addressing gaps in data security, skill sets, and IT infrastructure is critical. Companies should prioritize IT modernization to streamline application containerization and GenAI deployment, closing skill gaps through hiring or collaboration with service providers, and focusing on long-term ROI for GenAI projects.”
For the seventh consecutive year, Nutanix partnered with Vanson Bourne to conduct this global research, surveying 1,500 IT and DevOps/Platform Engineering decision-makers across multiple industries and regions, including North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific-Japan (APJ).
