Strategies for Managing Citizen Developers and No-Code Tools
Olga Biedova, Blake Ives, David Male, Michael Moore
This study examines the use of no-code and low-code development tools by citizen developers (non-IT employees) to accelerate productivity and bypass traditional IT bottlenecks. Based on the experiences of several organizations, the paper identifies the strengths, risks, and misalignments between citizen developers and corporate IT departments. It concludes by providing recommended strategies for managing these tools and developers to enhance organizational agility.
Problem
Organizations face a growing demand for digital transformation, which often leads to significant IT bottlenecks and costly delays. Hiring professional developers is expensive and can be ineffective due to a lack of specific business insight. This creates a gap where business units need to rapidly deploy new applications but are constrained by the capacity and speed of their central IT departments.
Outcome
- No-code tools offer significant benefits, including circumventing IT backlogs, reducing costs, enabling rapid prototyping, and improving alignment between business needs and application development. - Key challenges include finding talent with the right mindset, dependency on smaller tool vendors, security and privacy risks from 'shadow IT,' and potential for poor data architecture in citizen-developed applications. - A fundamental misalignment exists between IT departments and citizen developers regarding priorities, timelines, development methodologies, and oversight, often leading to friction. - Successful adoption requires organizations to strategically manage citizen development by identifying and supporting 'problem solvers' within the business, providing resources, and establishing clear guidelines rather than overly policing them. - While no-code tools are crucial for agility in early-stage innovation, scaling these applications requires the architectural expertise of a formal IT department to ensure reliability and performance.
Host: Welcome to A.I.S. Insights, powered by Living Knowledge. I'm your host, Anna Ivy Summers. Host: Today we're diving into a fascinating study from MIS Quarterly Executive called "Strategies for Managing Citizen Developers and No-Code Tools". Host: It explores how employees outside of traditional IT are now building their own software applications to boost productivity, and what that means for business. Host: To help us unpack this, we have our expert analyst, Alex Ian Sutherland. Alex, welcome. Expert: Great to be here, Anna. Host: So, to start us off, who exactly are these 'citizen developers'? Expert: Think of them as empowered employees. A citizen developer is anyone in a business role—sales, marketing, HR—who creates applications using no-code or low-code tools. These platforms let you build software visually, like using digital building blocks, without writing traditional code. Host: So they're solving their own problems without waiting for help? Expert: Exactly. And that gets right to the core issue this study addresses. Host: Which is the infamous IT bottleneck, I assume? Expert: Precisely. The study points out that the business demand for new digital tools is growing much faster than the capacity of central IT departments to deliver them. Expert: Business units have urgent needs, but they face long queues and costly delays. Hiring more professional developers is expensive and they often lack the specific business insight to build the perfect tool. Host: So departments are left waiting, and that's where citizen developers step in. Expert: Yes. The study highlights one of its case companies, a car dealership group called 'DealerKyng', whose process improvements were completely stalled by their remote, backlogged corporate IT department. That frustration is what sparks this movement. Host: How did the researchers actually study this phenomenon? Expert: They took a very practical, real-world approach. They conducted in-depth interviews with people at four different companies—two large, established firms and two fast-growing startups. Expert: This allowed them to capture the hands-on experiences, challenges, and successes of using these no-code tools from very different perspectives. Host: Let's get into those findings. The benefits of using no-code tools sound pretty significant. Expert: They are. The study found that organizations can circumvent those IT backlogs, reduce development costs dramatically, and enable rapid prototyping. Expert: For example, another company in the study, a startup called 'LegacyFixt', estimated a tenfold cost benefit by using a no-code approach over purchasing traditional software packages. That's a huge advantage. Host: That does sound powerful. But I imagine it’s not all good news. What are the risks? Expert: The risks are just as significant. The biggest concern is the rise of 'shadow IT'—technology being used without the knowledge or approval of the IT department. Expert: This creates major security and privacy vulnerabilities. The study found citizen-developed apps sometimes use insecure methods to access corporate data, simply because IT won't provide a proper, secure connection. Host: That sounds like a tug-of-war. Is that a common theme? Expert: It’s a fundamental finding. There’s often a deep misalignment between IT’s priorities and those of the citizen developer. Expert: IT departments focus on security, stability, and long-term architecture. Citizen developers are focused on speed and solving an immediate business problem. This friction leads to IT being viewed as what one manager called a "police force," and citizen developers being seen as rogue agents. Host: This is the crucial question for our listeners: how should a business actually manage this? What are the key takeaways? Expert: The study's main message is that you can’t ignore or simply ban this activity. The smart strategy is to manage it by providing support and clear guidelines. Host: So, enablement over strict control? Expert: Exactly. Instead of policing, businesses should support. This means identifying the employees who are natural problem-solvers and giving them the right resources. Expert: Companies can create a list of approved, secure no-code tools, provide training, and build a community for these developers to share knowledge and best practices. Host: What about when these small apps need to become big, important systems? Expert: That’s a critical point the study makes about scaling. No-code tools are perfect for agility and early innovation—building a quick prototype or solving a local problem. Expert: However, once an application becomes mission-critical or needs to handle thousands of users, it requires the architectural expertise of a formal IT department to ensure it's reliable and secure. The goal should be partnership, not replacement. Host: So, to summarize, this trend of citizen development is a massive opportunity for businesses to become more agile and innovative. Host: The key is to manage it strategically—by supporting these developers with the right tools and guidelines, you can avoid the risks of shadow IT. Host: And ultimately, it's about building a bridge between the business and IT, leveraging the strengths of both. Host: Alex, this has been incredibly clear and insightful. Thank you for joining us. Expert: My pleasure, Anna. Host: And thank you for tuning into A.I.S. Insights, powered by Living Knowledge. Join us next time.
citizen developers, no-code tools, low-code development, IT bottleneck, digital transformation, shadow IT, organizational agility
