Why engage citizen developers to build your applications?

For knowledge workers, digital has permeated many aspects of work that used to be in-person. Many businesses have largely replaced paper-based manual processes with automated digital workflows. At first, these developments occurred because organisations had to adapt to remote work. Even as more businesses bring back in-person work today, leaders and teams have experienced the benefits of digital processes and want to take these even further.

These increased demands have pressured IT departments to build new functionality. The result: more applications become bottlenecked at IT with long delivery times and frustration as teams wait for new capabilities.

Citizen developers are one strategy that organisations can leverage to take some of the pressure off IT and skill-up teams to use low- and no-code platforms to develop applications. As the market for low and no-code tools expands, businesses can use citizen developers to take some pressure off IT and skill-up team members without coding experience to develop applications.

How do citizen developers support the IT department?

IT teams have quickly become overrun with demands for new app functions as businesses become more mature in their digital capabilities. With digital transformation becoming a higher priority for more companies, IT teams have a growing backlog of low-code and no-code application requests. Traditional IT departments have little time to address these requests, and citizen developers are one strategy for reducing this backlog.

Citizen developers bridge the gap between IT professionals and end-users by offering a unique perspective into how the frontline of the business uses these applications. With a combined understanding of user needs and the ability to develop solutions, citizen developers can build applications that meet their department's needs.

Keeping up with competitors also requires fast innovation, which many IT teams struggle to maintain. Citizen developers can quickly build applications for specific operational needs, making organisations more agile and responsive.

What are the benefits of citizen developers?

Empowering non-technical individuals to become citizen developers is a strategic approach to keeping your business ahead of the curve. With the right platforms and tools, these people can bring tangible benefits to your organisation:

Innovation: Citizen developers form a wider pool of creators, ensuring more diverse and innovative solutions. For instance, a marketing team member familiar with the daily challenges of campaign management might create an application to streamline content approval workflows.

Cost efficiency: Citizen developers reduce the reliance on external or third-party IT teams. Rather than contracting a third-party agency to construct a feedback collection application, a customer service representative might use a low-code platform to craft one tailored to the company's unique needs, saving costs the business might have otherwise spent on development.

Improved time-to-deployment: Involving citizen developers shortens the development cycle, reducing the time spent waiting on new applications. Citizen developers can quickly respond to an issue and deploy a solution that might have taken weeks when completed through traditional IT channels.

Scalability: Due to citizen developers' familiarity with their teams and business functions, they enable scalability. For example, an in-house project manager who has developed a task management tool can intuitively adjust and expand the application to accommodate increasing users, negating the need for IT involvement.

What to consider before engaging citizen developers

Before starting a citizen developer program, your organisation must consider potential complications. These include:

Skill levels: Citizen developers likely will not possess the same technical capabilities as IT professionals. Therefore, assessing and matching tasks with their existing skill set is crucial to ensuring they are neither overwhelmed nor underutilized.

Training and resources: Your citizen developers will need training and resources to deliver the right outcomes. For example, if an HR staff member shows interest in developing an in-house onboarding tool, providing workshops or tutorials empowers them to create a functional application.

Communication: Open dialogue between IT professionals and citizen developers is the bedrock of a successful citizen developer initiative. Regular check-ins and feedback sessions with the IT department can help identify potential issues early on, preventing last-minute problems and ensuring a seamless user experience.

How does ServiceNow support citizen development?

ServiceNow includes the tools citizen developers need to create, implement and refine business applications. Here is a breakdown of the features:

User-friendliness: ServiceNow's intuitive interface makes building apps easy for people without deep technical expertise. For example, the Flow Designer enables people to create application workflows without custom scripts.

App templates: Starting from scratch can be daunting for citizen developers. ServiceNow's pre-designed templates, like those in the APP Engine, give citizen developers the templates and designs needed to create applications.

Integration capabilities: ServiceNow allows easy integration with other enterprise tools and platforms. The Integration Hub includes application-specific automation actions so that regardless of someone's experience level, they can build comprehensive digital workflows.

Analytics and reporting: ServiceNow provides analytics and reports on application performance and KPIs so everyone involved with these projects can allocate resources and get more from automation and self-service solutions.

Conclusion

The rise of citizen developers marks a shift in IT. Rather than solely relying on traditional IT departments or external contractors, businesses can now leverage the power of in-house talent, cultivating an environment of innovation and agility.

With an understanding of daily operations and foundational IT tools, citizen developers sit in a unique position to create applications that address specific business challenges. ServiceNow's user-friendliness, pre-built templates, integration capabilities, and analytics enable citizen developers to bridge the gap between IT and end-user needs.

ND&Co can support your citizen developer program with ServiceNow

We deeply understand the ServiceNow platform, with years of experience implementing, designing and supporting it for our clients. Our clients include SMEs, large corporations and government agencies.

If you have considered a citizen developer program using ServiceNow, our engineers, project managers, and business analysts can ensure you have the right setup to make this a reality. Please contact us for more information.