Public sector embraces GenAI, yet struggles with security, skills, and infrastructure, finds Nutanix

Nutanix, a global leader in hybrid multicloud computing, has released the findings of its seventh annual global Public Sector Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) survey and research report, which tracks cloud adoption progress within the public sector. According to the study, 83% of public sector organizations have a generative AI (GenAI) strategy in place, with 54% already implementing initiatives and 29% preparing for deployment.

As GenAI adoption accelerates, the report revealed that 76% of IT decision-makers believe their current infrastructure requires moderate to significant upgrades to support modern, cloud-native applications at scale. Infrastructure modernization has thus emerged as a critical priority, driven by the growing need for systems capable of supporting GenAI’s enterprise-level demands, including robust data security, integrity, and resilience.

The survey also found a notable increase in real-world GenAI applications across the public sector, particularly in areas such as employee and constituent support—like AI-driven chatbots—and content generation. Despite the momentum, security remains a key concern. An overwhelming 92% of public sector leaders emphasized the need for greater safeguards around GenAI models and applications. Consequently, 96% of respondents reported that security and privacy are becoming higher organizational priorities in response to these emerging risks.

“Generative AI is no longer a future concept, it’s already transforming how we work,” said Greg O’Connell, VP, Federal Sales, Public Sector at Nutanix. “94% of public sector organizations are already putting AI to work and expect returns in as little as one year. As public sector leaders look to see outcomes, now is the time to invest in AI-ready infrastructure, data security, privacy, and training to ensure long-term success.”

Public sector survey respondents were asked about GenAI adoptions and trends, Kubernetes and containers, how they’re running business and mission critical applications today, and where they plan to run them in the future. Key findings from this year’s report include:

·       GenAI solution adoption and deployment in the public sector will necessitate a more comprehensive approach to data security. Public sector respondents indicate a significant amount of work needs to be done to improve the foundational levels of data security/governance required to support GenAI solution implementation and success. 92% of public sector respondents agree that their organization could be doing more to secure its GenAI models and applications. Luckily, many IT decision-makers in the public sector are aware of this impending sea change, with 96% of respondents agreeing that GenAI is changing their organization’s priorities, with security and privacy becoming higher priorities.

·       Prioritize infrastructure modernization to support GenAI at scale across public sector organizations. Running modern applications at enterprise scale requires infrastructure solutions that can support the necessary requirements for complex data security, data integrity, and resilience. Unfortunately, 76% of respondents in the public sector believe their current IT infrastructure requires at least moderate improvement to fully support cloud native apps/containers. Furthermore, IT infrastructure investment was ranked as a top area of improvement among public sector respondents, a sign that IT decision-makers are aware of the need to improve.

·       GenAI solution adoption in the public sector continues at a rapid pace, but there are still challenges to overcome. When it comes to GenAI adoption, public sector metrics show progress, with 94% of respondents saying their organization is leveraging GenAI applications/workloads today. Most public sector organizations believe GenAI solutions will help improve levels of productivity, automation, and efficiency. However, organizations in the public sector also note a range of challenges and potential hindrances regarding GenAI solution development and deployment, including data security and privacy, and the need for continued upskilling and hiring to support new GenAI projects/solutions.

·       Application containerization and Kubernetes deployment are expanding across the public sector. Application containerization is increasingly pervasive across industry sectors and is set to expand in adoption across the public sector as well, with 96% of segment respondents saying their organization is at least in the process of containerizing applications. This trend may be driven by the fact that 91% of respondents in the public sector agree their organization benefits from adopting cloud native applications/containers.