Who Develops apps?

The traditional application development process includes writing repetitive, time-consuming lines of code and can usually only be performed by highly skilled software developers with prior coding experience.

However, with significant innovation in modern digital technology and infrastructure, anyone can develop apps. Low-code software solutions allow users to create their own complex applications as citizen developers.

A citizen developer is a non-technical user who develops applications without traditional coding or IT knowledge using flexible platforms such as low-code software.

In fact, 24% of all users have no prior coding or software development experience before using low-code application development platforms. The rise of citizen development means that anyone can develop their own high-quality enterprise applications without the interference of a skilled software developer.

Benefits of citizen development

1) Speed up the development cycle

Speed is one of the key features of a successful application development cycle. Low-code application development technology means that citizen developers can create complex software using visual editors. These include drag-and-drop editors, which allow application developers to simply ‘drag and drop’ visual elements that they want on their website or application.

2) Cross-departmental collaboration

Application development was previously done solely by skilled software application developers, with business professionals simply providing a vague list of features that they would like included in the software interface. However, with the rise of citizen development initiatives, application development teams now consist of software application developers and business professionals. These types of teams can efficiently collaborate to create more accurate and function-specific low-code applications.

3) More engaged and productive employees

Highly engaged employees are 43% more productive than their counterparts. As citizen development allows users with little to no traditional coding experience to create high functioning applications, business professionals no longer have to depend on software developers heavily.

Therefore, this means that applications can be created much more efficiently and productively than ever before, with employees being much more engaged. This also significantly frees up software application developers’ time which means that they can work on higher-level organisational tasks.

4) Facilitates innovation

With the rise of low-code application development, businesses can recognise and address application incompetencies and create software updates much faster. Citizen developers can create flexible updates and deal with problems with the software immediately without having to wait for an application software developer. This will also reduce the burden on IT departments to both develop and deploy applications.

Corteza – Create Your Apps as a Citizen Developer

There are numerous advantages of citizen development, including faster application development cycles, cross-departmental opportunities for collaboration, more engaged employees, and higher productivity and innovation in your organisation as a whole.

With Corteza, built by Crust, citizen developers can create their own complex enterprise applications using visual editors and drag-and-drop tools. Crust’s solutions are equipped with a variety of graphic and visualisation tools that can help your organisation automate its business processes. Try a demo to see how you can take advantage of the many benefits of low-code application development.