Citizen developer vs. professional developer queries come to light because of the existing IT
IT alone cannot achieve all the requirements of a well functioning business, hence the creation and maintenance of new and pre-existing applications are crucial. This is because the fast pace is mandatory for solutions that arise in operations.
A recent Garnet report states that 61% of corporations are preparing or have already taken the first move towards citizen development.
Shadow IT
Since the popularity of the cloud, shadow IT has amplified rapidly. Shadow IT is an actual wonder whereas applications, devices, software, and IT systems are utilized without approval.
Shadow IT can be beneficial or detrimental for a business.
- While employee productivity improves and performs as a dynamic strength of innovation.
- It also leads to numerous high-security threats over possible defilements of compliance and data leaking etc.
Comparison table: Citizen Developer vs. Professional Developer
| Citizen Development | Professional development | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of Development | Economical | Expensive |
| Technical knowledge | No coding required | Coding required |
| Development speed | Faster development speed | Slow development speed |
| Collaboration | Enables collaboration | Less scope for collaboration |
| Burden on IT | Low burden | Hight burden |
Try no-code software and become a citizen developer
Citizen Development
What exactly is citizen development?
Fundamentally, corporate IT authorizes runtime environments and developments that users utilize to develop new applications for businesses that people operate.
Gartner says that citizen developer vs. professional developer is favorable as end-user application creation was restricted to singular users or solutions built within Microsoft Office. Though, presently people can develop applications and enterprises used by the public with the help of fourth-generation language (4GL) – style expansion platforms, cloud technology, and shared services.
Professional development
A professional developer is someone with the skills to maintain, upgrade and create software produced for commercial resolutions through coding language.
Benefits Of Low-Code No-Code Platforms
Cost reduce
After the preliminary investment and random maintenance expenses, operation costs decrease.
Increasing engagement
Employees can finish chores through these platforms which allows them to spend more time assisting the operations and growth of the business.
Improving productivity
Because of improved productivity, superior agility, and speed, operational efficiency is amplified.
Active movement
A whole movement in approval of citizen developer vs. professional developer has taken place.
Citizen Developer Movement
People were extremely reliant on IT for enhanced functionality and expected consistent creation of applications that consisted of new upgrades and features to run smoothly.
The hefty obligation on a single department is impossible to meet the ever-changing developments of employees and clients in the business industry like the Legal Industry or the Insurance Industry.
This eventually led to the citizen development movement.
The shift from the traditional role of IT
The traditional role of IT changed into building infrastructure for providing employees with data and tools that can be used to find answers for specific business issues.
Adopting low-code no-code programs
The root of the movement is the influence of low-code or no-code platforms to generate easier results for businesses. 80% of businesses are converting to these programs for application development. It’s trendy and thriving due to its encouragement of citizen developers to solve issues easily.
Explaining the process to employees
Anyone with the ability to comprehend the understanding of these tools can develop applications for companies, hence becoming a citizen developer.
IT mans the fort
IT is the main department for the citizen development movement to discover threats in permissions and integrations and without them, creating, maintaining, and upgrading solutions is impossible.
Three possible dynamics could be followed by an organization:
- IT produces the applications and the firm utilizes them for commercial practices.
- IT concentrates on precarious construction and tactical features of the procedure while citizen developers apply the mechanisms agreed upon to develop applications.
- IT and citizen developers join forces in creating the application and IT supervises the project.
Though the movement for citizen development is advantageous in the citizen developer vs. professional developer notion, many disadvantages also exist.
The Pros And Cons Of Citizen Development
Pros
- Constantly growing need for applications
ICD states that by 2023, over 500 million applications will be created to sustain companies and their profit. Citizen developers are required to help as IT alone cannot handle vast development.
- Reduction of costs
Costs decrease as companies no longer have to employ skilled developers to build applications since citizen developers bring more value to companies over time.
- Create more skilled developers
With skilled developers being scared, the IT department is under pressure with their limited developers. Citizen developers allow common people to understand technical application development alongside the staff which aids in further growth and transformation of the digital world.
- Enables collaboration and speedy improvements
The collaboration of external and internal departments allows speedy improvements of the firm. The citizen and professional developers work together to create a seamless harmony of creative solutions.
- Increases productivity
The productivity of IT departments increases with the help of citizen developers who handle the creation of applications while they work on problems that require complex solutions to comprehend legacy modernization, enterprise-wide applications, and core system extensions.
- Aids in monitoring shadow IT
If left unsupervised, shadow IT can be chaos. Citizen developments assist IT as a database to be observed while IT has visibility and control that requires overseeing the quality and security of applications being created.
Cons
- Technical knowledge
A certain level of technical knowledge is necessary for citizen developers to effectively run a business.
- Constant learning
With the rapid development of technology, IT has to be up-to-date to ensure that existing applications consumed by external and internal stakeholders are modernized and new programs are developed accordingly. Employees have to be constantly trained with each upgrade.
- Added responsibility for the management
Management gets added responsibility to keep employees well informed about training and have to comprehend the applications development and updates themselves to be able to convey them to their staff.
Conclusion
To conclude, the pros outweigh the cons in the argument between citizen developers vs. professional developers for a better future within the company. The movement continues to bring innovation for years.
Backlog of IT and overseeing of shadow IT is done to reduce the workload of IT and hand certain development to citizen developers. Low-code no-code programs are crucial to creating new applications for citizen developers.