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How no code application development has given rise to the ‘Citizen Developer’?

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Have you been experiencing bottle necks and backlogs on the IT front in your organization? You are not alone in this, as the consumers are devouring apps and are hungry for more the pressure on the IT divisions is mounting high.

The IT industry and the IT departments in enterprises are under a lot of pressure and though they seem to be doing OK for now, they would soon be overwhelmed and fall behind. Citizen developers are rising to the occasion and reducing the overall load on the development teams by using no-code development platforms and developing applications that may not be at the top of the priority list for the development departments.

Who is a citizen developer

A citizen developer is a business user not a software developer who develops applications to satisfy certain business needs.

There was a time when end-user application development was limited only to single-user or workgroup solutions that were built using tools like Microsoft Excel and Access. Times have changed for better now and today end users can build applications for departments, enterprises, and even for public use, with the help of no-code application development software.

Gartner predicts that “by 2023, the number of active citizen developers at large enterprises will be at least four times the number of professional developers.”

This goes hand in hand yet another prediction from Gartner – “By 2024, no-code application development will be responsible for more than 65% of application development activity.”

How to identify citizen developers in your enterprise

Managers and employees in the line of business or LOB are perfect to be chosen as citizen developers in any enterprise.

Let’s see why.

People engaged in LOB have access to and work with data and are quite familiar with the people who are eventually going to use the applications. However, they are not entirely unaware or unfamiliar with basic technology and their use.

They are often experts in the office suites and using spreadsheets in an optimal way. The true edge they have is that they have a distinct drive to identify business problems and then find ways to solve them with technology.

How do citizen developers help IT division

To say that we are going through a digital transformation is an understatement. As we are going through this huge transformation, the overall workload on the IT teams has increased exponentially. In most organizations the IT division has too much on their plate and too few resources to handle the work. To add to that, the digital ecosystem is progressively getting more complex by the day as various cloud-based, legacy, on-premise, and hybrid solutions are emerging which all require greater interconnectivity.

IT departments in all the companies are overworked and it is not always possible to fulfil every request from the employees and support may get delayed. Some of the more resourceful users take things in their hands and a shadow-IT is born. Here are some of the benefits of getting some citizen developers on board:

• Makes development of critical solutions faster
• Lets business users come up with innovative ideas
• Prevents the birth of shadow IT
• Improves IT efficiency by letting the experts focus on the critical issues
• Establishes a bridge between business and IT

How do citizen developers help an enterprise grow?

For any organization, a citizen developer can bring in a lot of benefits particularly for its growth. Citizen developers can effectively support the organization in its ability to adapt to change when it occurs helping them complete their digital transformation in a smooth, efficient manner.

Speed is of the essence when it comes to business growth. A citizen developer can leverage their knowledge of the business and a no code platform to come up with quick solutions and applications that can help business expansion in a timely fashion.

Role of no code platforms in the rise of citizen developers

No code platforms and no code development solutions are characterized by their ability to simplify the entire process of application development. Citizen developers can use the easy drag and drop method to create functional applications that are efficient and provide desired solutions to businesses. It is because of the ease of use, and the fact that they need no coding knowledge that citizen developers are emerging as a formidable growth factor for enterprises.

It is the common goal of citizen developers and no code platforms to do away with hand coding as much as possible.

The business users in any enterprise already have an expertise and knowledge of the problem and the solution. What they lack, however, is the ability and experience to write codes for the application. No code platforms like Appy Pie AppMakr have made it possible for them to build apps for the growth of an enterprise.

The citizen developers can drag and drop features, customize layouts, themes and create mobile applications, websites, chatbots, and more in just a few days instead of months or years.

Benefits of the citizen developers’ phenomenon

A business user or the citizen developer has all the skills to develop a variety of back office, mobile, and web applications as long as there is no need for hand coding.

• Speed – Some things cannot wait. This is particularly true when the time to market is critical for any product release or a critical problem arises internally. No code platforms make it possible for citizen developers to rise up to the challenge and come up with efficient solutions quickly.

• Reduce workload on IT – We know and have talked earlier about the kind of pressure the IT division is under. There are a million things on the proverbial plate of the IT department. This is why they tend to devote all their energy on the high priority projects. In doing so, some of the problems may be put on a back burner. Citizen developers, with the help of no code application development, citizen developers can take this load off of them.

• Better understanding of the problem – As the citizen developers are primarily business users, they naturally have a better understanding of the problems or application at hand. They are aware of the exact process, goal, and the solution they need. This means the chances of miscommunication are lower, and the total time taken would be further reduced.

• Cheaper solutions – No code solutions are inherently cheaper which saves enterprises a lot of money. Also, as we mentioned earlier, citizen developers save time by using no code tools and reducing the load on IT division. In all, the amount of money and time saved brings down the overall expenditure in a big way.

Concluding Note

Citizen developers are the future of every industry and for your company as well. They not only come up with innovative ways to come up with efficient solutions, they do it without having to lean on the already overworked IT department.

In most cases the citizen developers are the end users as well, hence the scope of coming up with tweaks and improvements in the applications is more and the entire process is way faster.

Have you ever tried using a no code development platform? In your enterprise, have you ever experienced that the backlog on your IT department is stunting the growth of your business? You are not alone! Use Appy Pie platform and try out the range of no-code solutions that are great for the citizen developers in your enterprise.
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Do you have a citizen developer waiting to find the right tools to get things going? Have your citizen developers brought about a change in your business growth and processes? Let us know in the comments section, I’d love to hear from you!