Nutanix has released the findings of its sixth annual global Public Sector Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) survey and research report, shedding light on the progress of cloud adoption within the industry. According to the research, Public Sector IT leaders anticipate significant near-term adoption of various IT operating models (87%), yet current usage (57%) slightly trails the average compared to other industries (60%).

The latest Public Sector ECI report forecasts a quadruple increase in the utilization of hybrid multicloud models over the next one to three years, as IT decision-makers within public sector organizations aim to modernize data centers into private clouds while retaining flexibility in public cloud deployments.

Primary drivers for IT infrastructure investments in the forthcoming year include ransomware prevention, IT modernization, and AI strategy support, aiming to enhance operational efficiency and enable mission success. However, public sector entities grapple with regulatory and compliance mandates dictating the storage of end-user data, adding complexity to IT infrastructure modernization endeavors. Hybrid multicloud solutions emerge as pivotal assets for public sector organizations, offering operational simplification, enhanced data privacy and security, optimal app and data placement, and readiness for technologies like AI.

Key findings from this year’s report include:

Hybrid multicloud deployments lag behind other industries, with just 8% of global public sector organizations currently employing a hybrid multicloud approach.
Ransomware protection emerges as the primary driver for IT infrastructure investments, followed by performance/response time potential and workload flexibility across private and public cloud platforms.
Security and compliance drive application relocation, with 92% of public sector respondents having migrated one or more applications to different IT environments in the past year.
AI adoption is on the rise, with 80% of the public sector anticipating increased investments in AI technology in the next year, though data privacy concerns persist.
Top challenges include multi-environment storage, operations, security, and sustainability, with data storage compliance ranking as the primary data management challenge.

The research, conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Nutanix, surveyed 1,500 IT and DevOps/Platform Engineering decision-makers globally in December 2023, encompassing various industries, business sizes, and geographical regions.