Citizen Development: Your one-way ticket to the future

Quixy Editorial Team

August 8, 2023

Whether big or small, companies look at digitally transforming their operations to improve productivity, stay competitive, and adapt to the changing business environment. These companies rely heavily on their IT department to meet their software application needs for digital initiatives. Overwhelmed with software requirements from across business units, IT departments cannot fulfill their requirements. The rising cost of software developers and the lack of skilled professionals’ availability further add to the woes.

This paves the path for Low-Code No-Code platforms and the future of Citizen Development. 

Citizen developers are individuals who are integrated into businesses as non-IT employees but are empowered by the ability to build applications to satisfy their needs. When these citizen developers build applications for a business using no code or low-code software, the process is known as citizen development. You can also check out Citizen Developer’s Toolbox: Insights and Strategies from Our eBook-Innovate and Empower: A Journey through Citizen Development!

With its ability to create digital solutions quickly and to adapt to the dynamic business environment on-the-go, citizen development has become the one and only ticket to the future. A company backed by citizen development will experience an instant increase in its productivity, competency, and efficiency.

Also read: The Rise of the Citizen Developer and why should every business care?

Facts Supporting the Future of Citizen Development

Here are the top 10 findings, predictions, and statistics that clearly establish citizen development as the future of software development.

1. A press journal by Prescient & Strategic Intelligence has stated that the global low-code no-code development platform market is predicted to generate a revenue of $187.0 billion by 2030, rising from $10.3 billion in 2019. This market is expected to advance at a fast pace of 31.1% CAGR during the forecast period (2020-2030).
2. Gartner predicts, By 2024, 80% of technology products and services will be built by those who are not technology professionals.
3. A recent study finds out that 82 percent of organizations can’t attract and retain the quality and quantity of software engineers. They are willing to build and maintain their own apps using low-code no-code techniques.
4. 72% of IT leaders now say project backlogs prevent them from working on strategic projects.
5. By the year 2024, an estimated 80% of technology products and services will be created by individuals who are not specifically from a technical background.
6. 80% of IT developers acknowledge that low-code citizen development is useful for automating repetitive tasks, such as handling business rules and coding forms.
7. Forrester found that low-code no-code software development helps developers make cloud-native applications more than 10 times faster (with 70% fewer resources).
8. Gartner estimates that by 2024, low-code no-code application development will be responsible for more than 65% of application development activity.
9. Microsoft anticipates that of the 500 million apps it expects will be created over the next five years, 450 million will be designed on low-code no-code platforms.
10. Gartner estimates that by 2024, 75% of large enterprises will be using at least four low-code no-code development tools for IT application development as well as citizen development initiatives.
11. A recent study by McKinsey found organizations that empower citizen developers score 33% higher on innovation measures than those that do not.
12. Gartner predicts that organizations with diverse IT-business collaborations will deliver business outcomes 25% faster than their competitors.
13. Gartner estimates by 2025, 70% of new applications developed by enterprises will use no-code or low-code technologies (up from less than 25% in 2020).
14. Gartner estimates 73% of CFOs agree or strongly agree that their organization is using digital tools to help streamline and automate operations.

What can Citizen Development bring to your organization?

1. Automated processes

There is no need to indulge in coding to automate and customize the workflows and processes in your company. Citizen development will eventually automate all the routines of your organization. This will allow you to focus on more important things rather than repetitive manual work.

2. Business Process automation and optimization

Within a span of a few days, you can automate each and every business process with low-code no-code. From Human Resources to Finance, all your processes will not only be automated but also optimized by eliminating all bottlenecks and errors. 

3. Customized Applications

With the elimination of code, citizen developers can create a highly customized application at least ten times faster.

With no code, your business can save precious time and money while making sure that all the business needs are met and customized for within the application. This highly customizable application is an upgrade from the traditional one-size-fits-all applications that are hard to customize and create clutter in your IT setup.

Employees are on the front lines of daily business processes and are equipped with intimate knowledge of the processes for which the applications are intended. With their assistance and recommendations, citizen developers can easily create a highly customized application that caters to their needs and requirements.

This will lead to an increase in efficiency within the organization. 

4. Data management- Ease in the analysis of reports.

Manual data entry and processes often lead to major challenges and inefficiencies. Automation of data management eliminates human intervention entirely through accurate real-time recording of data.

With Low-Code No-code platforms, you can build dashboards with consolidated data from the automated processes. This makes reporting and analysis easy. It provides actionable insights into trends and resource utilization, leading to informed decision-making.

5. Seamless Collaboration and Communication

Automated processes alongside an integrated application let teams work together in real time. Each team member is constantly updated without the need for emails and other communication forms.

When it comes to communication, agile digital process automation includes setting up notifications and reminders. This, in turn, helps teams communicate better within themselves, resolve tasks faster and record their speed through time-tracking applications.

6. Culture of innovation

The beauty of citizen development is that it involves no or minimal coding. Employees working across different verticals now have the opportunity to use their problem-solving and creative skills to make an actual change in the organization. 

Consequently, by strategically involving different departments, innovation is not confined to one part of the business. This promotes a culture of innovation.

Also read: How to Implement and Govern Citizen Development in Your Organization

Conclusion

A major digital transformation is the need of the hour. This digital transformation involves adopting innovative technologies and adapting to the ever-changing environment. 

With its endless applications and benefits, you must take citizen development seriously if you want your company to emerge as a strong player in the near future. Automation of routines, customizable applications, data management, seamless collaboration and communication, a culture of innovation, and the increasing number of citizen developers will make this possible.

Your next step

Reap all the benefits of citizen development with Quixy, as it is the leading No-Code Process Automation and Application Development platform. Quixy offers super-convenient and affordable tools that can completely transform your business. We recommend you use this opportunity to capitalize on the application and benefits of a successful citizen development ecosystem. Don’t miss out on the chance to elevate your processes. Take the first step and get started with Quixy today.

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