One Solution to the Talent Gap: Citizen Developers
You don’t have to be a tech visionary to know that the business world and the technology that powers much of it are rapidly changing. The last few years in particular have brought about a whirlwind of activity, from a huge increase in remote work precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic to the Great Resignation and an ongoing shortage of workers in numerous fields, including engineering and software development.
The digital world has been evolving just as quickly. Statista projects that companies will spend $3.4 trillion on digital transformation by 2026. IDC, meanwhile, predicts more than 750 million cloud-native applications will be created globally by 2025. And Gartner predicts that low-code technologies will reach a $26.9 billion market value by the end of this year, marking a 19.6% increase from 2022.
Given the shortage of workers in engineering and software development, the increased focus on low-code/no-code development makes sense. Using a drag-and-drop user interface, low-code/no-code platforms remove the need for extensive coding or expert-level knowledge of computer programming like JavaScript by providing the necessary components for non-technical business users to quickly build web and mobile applications without the assistance of skilled developers.
Close the Talent Gap With Citizen Development
This so-called citizen development approach to app development enables organizations to better deal with the talent gap currently being experienced in the market. With the global shortage of software engineers expected to reach 85.2 million by 2030, low-code/no-code platforms allow businesses to leverage the experience of employees throughout the entire organization (and not just the IT department), encouraging both technical and more business-oriented workers to have greater input and a stake in the full-cycle of app development while simultaneously increasing their own skill level.
Making it possible for employees to become developers and create their own apps, however, demands a shift in mindset throughout the entire organization. To start, companies must ensure that training is available and policies are in place so that its citizen developer employees are able to express their creativity and take risks when developing apps, while simultaneously assuring that their work is aligned with that of other business units and the organization as a whole. Ongoing processes such as hiring and training must be amended to allow for this change as a result.
Low-code/no-code platforms help streamline the traditionally lengthy processes used to design and deliver applications. In doing so, organizations are able to address another current market demand — businesses’ seemingly unquenchable desire to achieve digital transformation. To better meet consumer and market demands to advance modernization, low-code/no-code platforms allow companies to build more apps in a significantly shorter period of time, greatly accelerating product delivery and offering their customers digital-first experiences with speed and precision.
That ability holds the potential to increase organizational productivity, while containing costs since the need to invest in highly skilled, in-house technical resources and lengthy development time has been reduced. It also helps to increase business agility. Because most low-code/no-code platforms are extensible, they offer direct integrations with major vendors, enabling application programming interfaces and web services to be reused. As a result, apps can be quickly and regularly updated, maintained and enhanced, rather than falling victim to the maintenance issues and improvement bottlenecks which are inherently a part of the continuous cycle of software development.
Related Article: Low Code Unleashed: 3 Winning Strategies to Make It Work
Learning Opportunities
But Keep These Challenges in Mind
All of these benefits, coupled with the fact that low-code/no-code platforms reduce the need for IT personnel to shadow application development efforts, serve to lower overall costs. But this doesn't mean organizations can become complacent when it comes to technical skills. You still need some computer programming and coding knowledge to fully leverage low-code/no-code platforms, particularly when it comes to maintaining security practices.
Typically, a high priority for traditional software development, security goes overlooked or, at best, is an afterthought for citizen developers. Obviously, security breaches can present enormous problems for the organization, ranging from app downtime to serious financial, legal and reputational consequences. Given that, it is essential for employees involved in software development to receive proper training in common cybersecurity threats and best practices for reducing security risks and maintaining high levels of security across the entire enterprise.
Another issue is the limited customization offered by low-code/no-code application development. No-code platforms usually rely on rigid, drag-and-drop templates, meaning there is no room for any kind of customization. In contrast, low-code platforms have the capabilities to implement some code and integrate external application programming interfaces, enabling organizations to maintain at least some degree of flexibility. These same issues can make scalability using low-code/no-code platforms difficult, particularly in situations where the app is experiencing rapid growth in a short period of time.
Finally, citizen developers using a no-code or low-code platform may not focus on the user experience with the same degree of consideration and diligence that IT professionals would. Because the user experience is a core principle in software development, there are professionals and developers dedicated entirely to optimizing how an end-user interacts with a web or mobile app. This is simply not the case with low-code/no-code developers. Perceptions of utility, ease of use, and efficiency for a low-code or no-code app may be less than ideal as a result.
In spite of these drawbacks, the low-code/no-code application development market is continuing to experience unprecedented growth and increasing interest from enterprises across verticals. Given that and their ability to solve numerous organizational problems, it would appear that low-code/no-code platforms will play an increasingly important role in digital transformation as more companies look to meet market demands by accelerating modernization through web and mobile app delivery.
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About the Author
As president and CEO at Blueprint Software Systems, Dan Shimmerman is responsible for establishing Blueprint’s Enterprise Automation Suite as the world's most powerful digital process design and management solution. With a passion for helping organizations to more efficiently design and build digital solutions that drive their digital transformation and the achievement of business goals, Dan has a proven track record of success in delivering strategic vision, execution, and value for all stakeholders.
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