Tracking the Evolution of DevOps into 2025

DevOps continues to offer product teams streamlined workflows, making the continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) approach possible. As we approach 2025, here are some key trends in the evolution of DevOps as a discipline.

DevOps has transformed how teams create, test, and deploy applications by enhancing collaboration between developers and operations. The speed and reliability boost has helped businesses across niches build useful software while keeping the process lean.

Like every widely adopted technology practice that’s relatively new, DevOps has been evolving rapidly in recent years. In this article, let’s look at the key trends that will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of DevOps.

1. Serverless architecture gains popularity

Traditional server setups require users to manually set up, maintain, and scale their resources as needed. Consequently, this takes the focus away from writing code and orchestrating deployments. 

Serverless architecture, as the name suggests, takes care of that on its own and only charges you for what you use. Teams can look forward to seamless development and rollout processes, without worrying about administrative tasks.

Popular serverless architecture platforms like AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and Google Cloud Functions are great options for developers across industries. They automatically handle everything from scaling to server maintenance. 

This approach complements the DevOps culture of frequent updates, automation, and continuous delivery. Moreover, it also aligns with the “pay-as-you-go” model, enabling teams to manage their budgets better.

2. The rise of GitOps

GitOps leverages Git repositories as the single source of truth for managing applications and infrastructure. This centralizes the process of maintaining the code of the software and ensuring all the components it needs to run effectively are readily available, including servers and databases.

Git helps teams to track changes, collaborate effectively, and roll back to previous versions without much hassle. Additionally, testing new code becomes safer as developers can simply create a new branch.

Tools like ArgoCD and Flux automate the deployment process by ensuring that the actual infrastructure always matches what is defined in the Git repository. This approach makes it easy to keep track of what is running, spot any differences, and roll back to previous versions when needed.

One of the biggest benefits of GitOps, which has played a big part in its rising popularity, is the reduction of manual intervention. Automation minimizes errors and improves consistency in overall DevOps workflows. It is likely that GitOps will become the standard in the near future, as 78% of respondents to a recent survey are planning to adopt it in the next two years.

3. Ditching Terraform for OpenTofu

Terraform has been a popular choice for Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Teams can define cloud infrastructure in a consistent and reusable way, making it great for scalability. 

However, there are challenges such as potential vendor lock-in, dependency on third-party plugins, and state file maintenance. Many in the DevOps community have been skeptical about the long-term viability of Hashicorp’s product suite, following Terraform’s recent removal of open source licensing and the parent company’s acquisition by IBM.

What’s more, the premium Terraform Cloud (TFC) service recently changed its pricing model, making Hashicorp’s offering even less attractive. Consequently, developers are looking at other options and are choosing a TFC alternative that offers more transparency and flexibility.

As an open-source and community-driven solution, OpenTofu empowers teams to gain better control over their infrastructure without relying on a single vendor. Moreover, it offers native features like state encryption, better modular design, and simple and readable declarative syntax. 

Furthermore, OpenTofu outperforms Terraform Cloud in terms of usability. The former’s intuitive configuration language makes it easier for new users to get the hang of it quickly. In simpler words, OpenTofu gives more freedom that allows DevOps teams to be more transparent and productive while having an opportunity to contribute to its development.

4. Multicloud is the new standard

Multicloud means leveraging cloud computing services from different vendors such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. This prevents vendor lock-in while ensuring better server availability and optimizing costs.

The flexibility offered by this approach to DevOps speeds up innovation as teams can capitalize on the advantages of all the vendors. Large organizations can become more agile as they can distribute workloads across various regions and platforms to meet regulatory requirements.

At the same time, there are a few challenges such as increased complexity of infrastructure, security concerns, and cost management. It is essential to adopt the right cloud management platforms to simplify operations and reap the benefits of multicloud environments.

Popular cloud management platforms include VMware vRealize Suite, Microsoft Azure Arc, and BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management. They offer a unified interface where teams can monitor, manage, and optimize cloud resources.

5. Increased reliance on AI

Routine tasks such as monitoring systems, detecting anomalies, and optimizing resource usage can be done well with AI tools. As these solutions are becoming more affordable and easily accessible, DevOps workflows are poised to make significant efficiency improvements.

AI can also aid teams with continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) through automated testing and deployment. This reduces manual errors and speeds up the releases, enabling agility.

Large language models (LLMs) specialized in coding tasks are available right in integrated development environments (IDEs). Solutions like Codium and GitHub Copilot assist developers by providing coding suggestions and debugging pre-written code instantly.

AI assistants can also help in improving code comprehension. Developers can use LLMs to add comments to existing code and generate functional summaries.

While these advanced capabilities of AI will impact various aspects of DevOps, it is crucial for teams to remain vigilant about the limitations of LLMs such as hallucinations. Keeping a human in the loop to review AI’s work is pivotal in this process.

Wrapping up

DevOps is constantly evolving, and recent trends show that the rate of evolution has compounded due to widely available disruptive technologies that fit into every budget.

Serverless architecture allows teams to focus on software development rather than infrastructure. GitOps makes infrastructure management more collaborative and transparent while improving overall efficiency.

OpenTofu has positioned itself as a more flexible and user-focused IaC solution compared to traditional options like the Terraform Cloud. Multicloud strategies are being widely adopted as they make developer teams more resilient and agile.

Finally, AI solutions are making their way into various parts of a typical DevOps workflow. They help automate routine tasks and aid developers with complex things like coding and debugging.

DevOps professionals should embrace these tools and understand the emerging best practices in this sphere to remain competitive. Now, it’s more important than ever to stay on top of new innovations and market trends.