Who are Citizen Developers and what are their roles in business automation processes?

Citizen developers typically build applications to enhance their day-to-day productivity and improve an existing business process. They are individuals within an organization who have access to a visual integrated development environment. They can use drag-and-drop application components and connect them together to generate a new unique web or mobile application. Since modern businesses are increasingly becoming tech-savvy, they are expecting the technology at work provides them the same user experience as the apps they use daily in their lives.

As noted by Gartner, a citizen developer is a user who creates new business applications for consumption by others, using development and runtime environments enabled by IT. In its survey on citizen development, Gartner found that 41% of respondents already have active citizen development initiatives, while 20% don't have plans to commence on citizen development initiatives.

Scaling Automation with Citizen Developers​

Though enterprise-wide automation requires a versed IT team in RPA, empowering citizen developers could be beneficial in developing their own automation to sustainably scale the RPA program within a company. Citizen developers deliver a creative force that should be understood and leveraged by foresighted organizations. They generally come under two categories. 1) Basic users can create task-level automation primarily for personal use from their desktops. 2) More advanced users can create task-level automation or process-level proof-of-concept code that an RPA team would review and approve.

With the help of citizen development programs, enterprises can give the power of automation in the hands of those who best know the processes that they use. A Cognizant report noted that with other digital engineering efforts, citizen development has the potential to play a significant role in companies willing to adapt to their automation operating model and value proposition, reimagine processes and redesign the way they work. According to the report, RPA-focused citizen development gives business users the ability to automate small tasks specific to their roles. It enables them to perform their jobs better, faster and smarter, thus keeping them more engaged.

Allowing staff to become citizen developers could be a cost-intensive approach. Thus, to cut this cost, organizations don't need to employ many developers with the knowledge and expertise of building extensive enterprise programs. By incorporating low-code/no-code functionality, they can massively broaden the number of people who can assist in digital transformation.

Before rolling out the citizen development initiative, Cognizant identified that decision-makers need to consider two factors: Value and Risk. Additionally, to bring a successful citizen development program, they must consider: Enable, Govern, and Sustain.

Enable: Choose people with in-depth knowledge of business processes. Raise awareness to encourage them and provide training and mentorship.

Govern: To successfully implement citizen development, it is significant to establish clear governance and boundaries, set goals, make best practices, and track and manage outcomes.

Sustain: Maintain and avail reusable assets, leverage and document automation ideas, and review processes for ongoing support.