How Citizen Developers Are Driving Business Apps
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How Citizen Developers Are Driving Business Apps
Companies need custom apps to boost productivity and enhance customer relationships, and many of them are relying on citizen developers to produce those apps. -
Emerging Force
82% of the IT decision-makers surveyed said citizen developers are going to become more important to business over the next two years. -
Hand-Off
Nearly 60% of all custom apps are created outside of the IT department. -
Public Participation
Of those custom apps, 30% were created by citizen developers. -
Use Cases, Part I
64% of the IT decision-makers surveyed said their organization deploys custom apps to improve productivity, and 52% said their company does so to enhance team collaboration. -
Uses Cases, Part II
48% said their company deploys custom apps to manage customer contacts and relationships, and 45% said they need custom apps to support commonly repeated, task-based workflows. -
Top Benefits of Custom Apps
They address specific business requirements: 29% Once deployed, they provide greater flexibility for modifications: 25% It's very likely that employees and partners will use them: 15% -
Top Challenges of Custom Apps
The time it takes to create them: 36% The cost to create them: 21% Lack of needed employee expertise: 17% -
Most Pressing Items on IT's Agenda
Managing data growth: 37% Securing corporate and customer data: 34% Managing risks related to mobile and social networks: 31% -
Focus Areas
37% of survey respondents said that, on average, citizen developer-produced custom apps will benefit company-wide initiatives, while 28% said they'll support specific projects, and 27% said they'll serve departmental efforts.
With demand for custom apps soaring, the presence of citizen developers is expected to grow over the next two years, according to a recent survey from FileMaker. The accompanying report, "Custom Apps: The Engine for Digital Transformation," defines custom apps as ones that a business designs and builds to satisfy its own requirements. It describes citizen developers as "employees without formal programming training or experience" who typically create these apps outside of IT. With this, companies expect to deploy apps that enable them to be more productive and collaborative, while more effectively managing customer relationships. "Some see citizen development as the barbarian at the gate—it's a threat to business as usual," according to the report. "While the model of decentralized application creation is gaining ground, it is not yet the norm. But companies need to ensure they are not conflating one perceived problem with one that's actually worse. … A disengaged, demotivated workforce participating in rigid processes that can't adjust quickly to the changing requirements imposed by digitization directly impacts corporate culture, talent management, innovation, quality of work throughput and competitive differentiation." IT decision-makers from more than 500 companies in North America took part in the research, which was conducted by 451 Research.