As organisations accelerate their cloud transformation initiatives, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has emerged as a foundational approach for automating infrastructure provisioning, reducing manual intervention, and enabling scalability.  

What is IaC?

In simple terms, IaC is the process of managing and provisioning cloud infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files, rather than relying on manual setups.

Similarly, cloud infrastructure refers to the hardware and software components, such as servers, storage, networks, and virtualisation software that support cloud computing services. As the adoption of cloud infrastructure continues to grow, IaC has become essential for efficiently managing increasingly complex and dynamic environments.

However, the increasing complexity of cloud environments has exposed the limitations of traditional IaC tools.

At Grant Thornton Bharat, we examine how next-generation IaC platforms are addressing these limitations by introducing enhanced flexibility, developer-centric features, and intelligent automation. Platforms such as Pulumi, Cloud Development Kit for Terraform (CDKTF), and modern extensions of Terraform are redefining the way infrastructure is developed and managed. 

Why are organisations moving beyond traditional IaC? 

Legacy tools such as Terraform, while widely adopted, rely on domain-specific languages that can restrict flexibility. As development teams look for more integrated, agile, and intelligent infrastructure solutions, organisations are shifting towards platforms that: 

1.

Support infrastructure development in general-purpose programming languages such as Python, TypeScript, Java, and C#.

2.

Integrate security and compliance directly into infrastructure workflows.

3.

Leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce misconfiguration risks and optimise resource usage.

4.

Enable modular, testable, and reusable code structures for long-term maintainability.

These capabilities are essential for supporting modern DevOps practices and ensuring consistency across multi-cloud and hybrid environments. 

Key trends shaping the future of next-gen DevOps platforms and IaC 

Pulumi and CDKTF enable developers to define infrastructure using languages they already know.

Teams increasingly integrate security controls and policy enforcement into the development lifecycle.

AI powers predictive analysis, auto-remediation, and cost estimation across cloud environments.

Tools and practices help teams build and manage production-grade infrastructure.

FinOps principles are converging with infrastructure as code to guide cost-effective decisions.

Teams version, test, and deploy infrastructure changes automatically using modern delivery pipelines.

Solutions monitor infrastructure for unintended changes and restore consistency across environments.

Developer platforms and self-service portals simplify and standardise infrastructure management.

Our insights on evolving IaC trends

At Grant Thornton Bharat, we believe that the future of IaC lies in intelligent, secure, and sustainable automation. As the scope of IaC expands beyond provisioning, emerging platforms are helping organisations build infrastructure that is resilient, cost-efficient, and aligned with strategic business goals.

We see innovation in areas such as AI-driven infrastructure insights, green cloud computing, and platform-centric development as key enablers of operational agility. Selecting the right IaC platform will be critical for any organisation looking to scale effectively while maintaining control, governance, and developer productivity. 

Rise of next-gen Infrastructure as Code platforms
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Rise of next-gen Infrastructure as Code platforms