Unlocking Citizen Development: Security, Governance and Integration with IT

There has been a huge surge of interest in citizen development, and it is rapidly approaching mainstream adoption. While many organizations have experimented with it, few have implemented it at scale. In this blog, we’ll discover more about selecting the right platform, governance practices and IT integration into citizen development to make it more effective for businesses.

According to a McKinsey survey, compared to those that don’t, organizations that empower citizen developers scored 33% higher on innovation. By standardizing the right platform together with the right practices, organizations can yield significant results, including increased innovation and efficiency, by replacing many of the error-prone and inefficient processes caused by traditional spreadsheets and email exchanges with new citizen-developed business process apps.

Ensuring Security and Compliance

Citizen developers need to be provided with an environment that empowers them to create whatever they want, though it should be within the bounds of what the platform supports and should comply with the internal policy. This can be done by implementing adjustable parameters that could include limitations on audience reach, application complexity, data type, and processing volume. For example, platforms can be configured for intranet only, have limits set on data size, and have internal policies against building apps with highly confidential data. 

Citizen development can be broken down into two key zones: self-service and collaboration. In the former, IT needs to own and initially configure the platform for security, scalability, and compliance, after which employees can build apps independently. Here, citizen developers need to be held accountable for following acceptable use policies and keeping the IT team updated on their app while IT should review applications periodically to ensure they are still relevant and secure. The timing of these interactions is also very important; reviewing apps before they're built might slow things down, and checking in right after deployment might be too soon. Therefore, waiting a few weeks is considered to be the best course of action. A strong governance process by IT, including tracking deployed apps, ownership, support contacts, the expected life of the app, anticipated usage, data volume and what the app does is essential to avoid the sprawl of unwanted and unsecure apps.

The second zone is where things get collaborative as citizen developers and professional developers work together. IT, with their technical expertise, takes the wheel on security, compliance, scalability, availability, and maintainability, while citizen developers focus on the app's business purpose. Gartner research indicates that organizations that are effective in deploying such fusion teams, achieve digital business transformations 2.5 times faster than those relying on centrally managed teams.

Importance of a Unified Platform and Collaboration

It's crucial to have a platform that allows apps created by citizen developers to be extended and enhanced by professional developers. Often, citizen developers are engaged in larger IT-led initiatives or in building prototypes to prove a concept where a unified platform can leverage diverse skill sets, thus increasing efficiency and enhancing the final solution by expanding apps at scale and avoiding the need for complete app rewrites.

Customizations also result in faster time to value by enabling citizen developers to compose apps from building blocks and enabling standardization in looks, behavior, and security profiles. IT plays a pivotal role in guiding citizen developers beyond basic ‘out of the box’ capabilities towards achieving a composable business model. The default widgets may not always align with design systems or requirements; therefore, it's crucial for organizations to have the capability to add their components to the product’s palette in a way that makes them appear and behave like they are part of the product. Similarly, vendor-supplied templates are great, but they also need to be customized in order to fully meet organizational needs. Custom templates configured with systems like CRM or marketing tools can increase efficiency and provide a level of standardization by ensuring that teams, such as marketing or sales, have templates that are specifically tailored to their operational needs. 

Citizen development is transforming how organizations function by empowering employees to automate and streamline workflows, thereby boosting innovation and efficiency. However, for it to thrive, It needs a strong foundation of IT integration in platforms for customizations and scalability as well as robust governance ensuring security and compliance.

Curious about how citizen development is being revolutionized by low-code/no-code tools and platforms?

Join the free on-demand webinar from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, where Alex Clemente of HBR-AS and Andrew Manby of HCLSoftware will guide you through the fascinating world of low-code/no-code development tools and their impact on citizen development.