Citizen Developer - Gamechanger in digitization?

Citizen Developer: innovation driver for the digital transformation #

Efficient, digital processes are the secret to the success of growing companies and are essential to maintaining their competitiveness. All too often, however, IT departments are unable to provide flexible IT systems and software applications that can be tailored to the individual needs and requirements of users due to compliance concerns or a lack of capacity. The result: cumbersome processes and frustrated employees who try to help themselves with shadow IT. But there is a miracle weapon that can both relieve your IT department and fulfill the wishes of your specialist departments: Citizen Developer.

Find out in this article how you can use the know-how in your specialist departments and avoid shadow IT by using Citizen Developers at the interface to IT.

What is a Citizen Developer? #

By definition, a citizen developer is someone who can develop their own applications without programming skills or a great deal of prior technical knowledge. In companies, these are employees outside the IT department who create software-based applications for their respective specialist area, even though they are not software developers themselves.

Accordingly, Citizen Development is the structured approach in which employees without programming knowledge create applications for their individual business processes in collaboration with the IT department. This is usually done with the help of special tools and follows clear guidelines to ensure security, integration and compliance.

The term citizen developer is made up of the English words for “citizen developer “ and is deliberately chosen in contrast to professional developers.

A citizen developer can act either as an individual expert in their field or as a member of a task force. In a small company or start-up without its own IT, a citizen developer is primarily someone who develops practical IT solutions independently and on a small budget.

Citizen Developer in action against shadow IT #

In the following, you will find out why shadow IT occurs time and again in companies and what you can do about it.

Causes of shadow IT #

Necessity is the mother of invention: If there is a certain dissatisfaction with the IT solutions provided in a specialist department, this can lead to clever employees looking for solutions themselves and supplementing the official IT with shadow IT. This is more than understandable from the user’s point of view - because most specialist departments are under pressure to meet the expectations of scalability in their work. Without efficient, digital processes, however, they cannot deliver the required performance, which reduces employee motivation and slows down the company’s growth.

Shadow IT can arise as a result of:

• Infrequent communication and coordination between IT and specialist departments
• Pronounced formalization (e.g. rigid application processes and IT security guidelines)
• No budget for new software that meets user requirements
• Lack of or overworked IT staff who can barely keep up with requests
• Decentralized company structure with a high degree of autonomy for individual departments

Luckily, you might think, IT-savvy employees in your specialist departments take the solution to the problems into their own hands. If this own initiative is officially desired and you steer Citizen Development in an orderly fashion, this may be true. But if your employees use additional tools and programs without consulting the IT department, it can backfire.

Risks of shadow IT #

Shadow IT, which is generally less well designed and tested than professionally developed systems, harbors high risks in terms of data security, data protection and data integrity. If specialist departments develop a life of their own and introduce their own software without the knowledge of the IT department, they quickly violate the company’s internal compliance rules. As shadow IT also eludes the company’s IT service management and IT architecture, it undermines decisions made by the IT department. The IT department is also unable to include the applications used in parallel in support, future planning, migrations or updates.

Nevertheless, citizen developers can play an important role in driving forward the digital transformation and maintaining the competitiveness of companies. Why? Because they know the processes in their specialist departments and the requirements for the software to be developed best. In contrast to professional developers, however, they have little or no IT and programming knowledge. To ensure uniform standards and the quality of the software applications created, your IT experts must therefore train the citizen developers in the requirements for IT compliance and IT security.

Opportunities that Citizen Development brings with it #

You should always avoid specialist departments using their own shadow IT in secret and without the consent of the IT department. However, if you officially encourage and enable selected employees to work as Citizen Developers, they can solve many of the problems mentioned above that lead to the emergence of shadow IT in the first place.

1. By relying on Citizen Development, you decentralize software development in your company. Instead of relying on an overburdened IT team, departments can now develop their own solutions that are tailored to their needs. Citizen developers can often create functional applications in less time and at a lower cost than would be possible using traditional methods.
2. Citizen Developer can eliminate the need to purchase expensive specialized software. Citizen Developer tools offer a flexible development environment in which you can map almost any use case. In addition, Citizen Development can contribute to innovation and improve the efficiency of application development.
3. Close cooperation** with the business departments is necessary to minimize the distance between the IT department and the operational business. You can achieve this by getting citizen developers on board directly when selecting and developing suitable solutions. In addition, the software applications that your specialist departments develop themselves have a significantly higher **acceptance** among employees.
4. Managing and coaching Citizen Developers can open up new capacities and relieve your IT department without you having to hire additional software developers. This allows you to counter the increasing shortage of IT specialists. However, the prerequisite for this is that you can enable existing employees to develop customized software solutions for their use cases with relatively little effort. If Citizen Developers even answer support requests for the software applications they have helped to develop themselves, your IT department will have much more room for strategic projects.

The advantages of Citizen Development at a glance #

• shorter development periods
• higher acceptance of the applications
• Relief for the IT department
• lower costs for expensive special software
• great potential for innovation
• cross-departmental collaboration
• Avoidance of shadow IT

6 skills that characterize a Citizen Developer #

Although they are not IT experts, citizen developers must have certain skills in order to successfully design software:

1. creativity and problem-solving skills: Citizen Developers do not shy away from challenges, think outside the box and find creative solutions for complex processes.
2. Analytical thinking: Citizen Developers must be able to analyze business processes down to the smallest detail. Thanks to their acumen, they develop applications that precisely meet the requirements of the specialist departments.
3. Team spirit and communication: Citizen Developers must be able to clearly communicate their requirements as the mouthpiece of the specialist departments and work together with different personalities.
4. Adaptability and flexibility: Citizen Developers need a flexible mindset that allows them to quickly incorporate changing requirements of a fast-paced business environment into applications.
5. Open-mindedness and a love of learning: Citizen Developers are enthusiastic about new topics and low-code development. They are keen to experiment, receptive and willing to learn independently.
6. Understanding of IT compliance: Citizen Developers must adhere to consistent standards and regulations. This enables them to contribute to a secure and compliant technology landscape and bring their innovations into line with the guidelines.

What Citizen Developer tools should be able to do #

As they usually have little programming knowledge, citizen developers rely on low-code or no-code development environments. These offer intuitive user interfaces and prefabricated software modules with which you can create your own applications without code. The fact that the IT department provides the specialist departments with such an environment means that the applications are developed on a uniform technological basis. In contrast to shadow IT, Citizen Developer Tools are therefore part of the official company IT from the outset.

However, these development environments must be so flexible that the citizen developers can tailor the software to the individual business processes and requirements in their respective departments. No-code platforms such as SeaTable are particularly suitable for this. Citizen developers can use these to make the necessary changes and adaptations quickly and easily. You should also opt for Citizen Developer tools that ensure transparent collaboration and adherence to compliance guidelines (e.g. GDPR).

Make your life easy and provide your Citizen Developers with a no-code platform with integrated app builder: SeaTable gives you everything you need to develop efficient processes. Register for free with your email address and get started right away!

Success factors for Citizen Development #

To exploit the full potential of Citizen Development while minimizing the risks of shadow IT, you should consider the following:

1. Development environment: Choosing a suitable low-code or no-code platform is crucial. It should be user-friendly, secure and integrate well with your existing systems.
2. Training and support: Citizen developers should receive a basic introduction to the tools available and best practices for quality assurance. If they have questions, they should be able to consult IT experts at any time.
3. IT governance: The IT department should establish clear guidelines and frameworks for Citizen Development to prevent shadow IT and ensure that all applications built meet corporate standards.
4. Collaboration: Close collaboration between citizen developers and professional developers is essential to ensure that software applications do not have critical bugs or security vulnerabilities.

Conclusion: Encourage your employees to become Citizen Developers #

Citizen development is a promising trend that can fundamentally change the way companies develop and deploy software. It offers you the opportunity to accelerate innovation, reduce costs and free up your IT department. However, you should train and manage your citizen developers so that they work according to uniform rules. In this way, you can ensure that the know-how from your specialist departments flows into software development and benefits your company in the long term.

FAQs #

TAGS: Low Code / No Code IT Processes