Pulumi Cloud offers a modern approach to Infrastructure as Code (IaC) by providing both managed services and open-source SDKs, enabling developers to manage cloud infrastructure efficiently and securely. Unlike traditional IaC tools that require manual state management, Pulumi abstracts this complexity and integrates with identity providers like GitHub and Azure Active Directory for enhanced security. It supports testing practices common in application development, such as unit and integration tests, and enables policy as code for enforcing security, compliance, and cost policies. Pulumi Cloud facilitates continuous delivery of infrastructure changes, aligns application and infrastructure pipelines, and offers an Automation API for advanced automation scenarios. It addresses infrastructure drift by providing tools to detect and remediate discrepancies between desired and actual states. Pulumi's use of general-purpose programming languages enhances its flexibility and scalability, making it a robust solution for organizations looking to optimize their cloud infrastructure management.