Who is a Citizen Developer?

Citizen developers are users who have no coding skills, or software development knowledge however they are fully equipped in building applications using no code or low code softwares. A citizen developer is able to use drag-and-drop application components, connect them together in order to generate a new unique web or mobile application. 

This low-code/no-code software empowers employees to design and build powerful applications which can grow and adapt according to the needs of a business. According to recent Gartner statistics by 2024, 80% of technology products and services will be built by those who are not technologically savvy/professionals

The Importance of Citizen Developer? 

Citizen developers are considered an important part of an organization, this is because the demand for skilled software developers is very high but rare. Especially as more and more organizations are moving forward with digitization. The workload for the IT department is constantly increasing, due to developing new solutions to meet customer and employee needs, resulting in an overworked IT department. These are significant challenges when it comes to organisations wanting to digitize further to stay in the game. 

Organisations are in need in order to stay relevant and competitive, to do so they are required to change, innovate and digitise to optimise their processes. As a business, they need to be more productive and need technology to streamline their processes if they are to meet their goal of staying in the game and competitive.

As for the IT departments, due to pressure from business executives to digitise and deliver when it comes to the organisation’s needs , the increase in workload is inevitable. However for both the organisations and IT departments, the role of a citizen developer helps immensely with these hurdles. 

How Can You Harness the Power of Citizen Development?

To clear up any confusions, employees will not be left to their own devices. There will be boundaries set by IT departments, who will most likely create the basis of the IT infrastructure in order to support citizen development. This way, citizen developers will be able to build applications which are required for their departments, within the IT infrastructure provided.

#1 Super-Fast Implementation:

With the speed of innovative progress rising, business nimbleness has become more significant than ever. Having citizen development as an integral solution, organisations are able to adapt to new customers and employee demands much faster. 

#2 Productivity Gains: 

With citizen developers decreasing the workload burden of the IT department, they naturally will have more time to allocate to the technically complex projects increasing productivity overall. Thus, this assists organizations with decreasing IT backlog, while lessening operational costs. 

#3 User(s) Take Control: 

With Citizen Development, individuals are able to take control with implementation and development despite not having IT skills, there is no need for constant assistance from the IT department. This way non developers within departments can create solutions catered to their needs, with no outside intervention. 

#4 Tailored Solution:

The concept of citizen development provides solutions that are better in terms of quality, due to the fact that those who are developing these solutions, are the same individuals who are facing these challenges e.g. quality control department, the individual who digitises processes, the quality control manager themselves. With this, there is no communication breakdown with department managers/leads and the IT department, with miscommunication comes wasted time. energy and resources.

Ultimately, the solutions are designed and implemented by the end users. The same individuals that will use these solutions are creating the solutions, with the background knowledge of what is required in terms of successfully achieving business needs.

The Future of Citizen Developers 

The citizen development process not only speeds innovation and technological development within the industry, in order to remain relevant and competitive but also reduces backlogs and frees IT employees time in order to prioritise and combat more pressing business issues. Future thinking software solutions such as Tekmon, provide fast implementation, no code processes to help organizations to gain all the productivity benefits needed from citizen development.