Digital transformation is no longer a destination, but an ongoing journey. Companies that a decade ago viewed digitalization as a competitive advantage now recognize it as a condition for survival . And along this path, Generative AI has become a catalyst that is redefining the boundaries of what is possible.
For decades, digital innovation in companies was centralized in Information Technology (IT) departments . Every project—from a web portal to an ERP—depended on specialized teams, lengthy planning processes, and substantial budgets. The rest of the organization remained a passive consumer of these solutions.
Today, that paradigm is undergoing a radical transformation. Generative AI is changing the game: any employee can become a creator of digital solutions . With this, innovation is democratized, and the role of IT is evolving: from being the sole technology enabler to becoming the orchestrator of an ecosystem that empowers every department and employee to design and deploy tools that solve their daily challenges.
“Companies that adopt generative AI will not only transform processes; they will transform their entire organizational model.” — Deloitte
This article explores the evolution of the concept of “Digital Self-Service” towards the era of “Citizen Developers” , analyzing how this change is reshaping business structures, innovation models and organizational culture, while raising the need for employees to develop new digital, creative and collaborative skills to take full advantage of this new paradigm.
From the Internet to Flexible Self-Service (1990s – 2000s)
In the 1990s , with the widespread adoption of corporate internet, the first intranets emerged . These were internal spaces that functioned primarily as digital bulletin boards: publishing policies, manuals, and corporate announcements. They were unidirectional, serving more as showcases than interactive platforms.
In the early 2000s , employee portals began to proliferate , offering more functionalities: downloading pay stubs, requesting vacation time, or registering expenses without needing to go through Human Resources or Administration. It was a significant leap: each employee could handle basic tasks independently. But the model remained rigid, limited to what the IT or HR teams had previously designed.
Towards the end of the decade, intranets evolved into smarter and more flexible platforms. With the arrival of SharePoint (2001) and later solutions like ServiceNow (2004) and SAP SuccessFactors (acquired in 2011) , companies began incorporating automated workflows, dynamic forms, and intelligent search capabilities. This marked the beginning of flexible self-service , where a manager could create their own reports, a logistics department could design approval workflows, and an HR team could enable internal digital processes.
This change not only eased the operational burden on IT, but also initiated a culture of internal autonomy .
During the 2010s, companies took another step forward. Management systems were no longer just repositories of information, but interactive platforms with cross-functional integration.
- 2010–2015 : Self-service systems for employees proliferated in HR and Finance, with functions such as evaluation management, digital recruitment, and expense approvals.
- 2015–2019 : Low-code/no-code platforms (Appian, Mendix, OutSystems) began to expand , allowing employees with limited programming knowledge to customize reports, dashboards, and forms. Microsoft launched PowerApps in 2016, accelerating this trend within the Office 365 ecosystem.
This period paved the way for a cultural shift: employees began to move beyond being mere consumers of solutions and embraced the idea of configuring their own tools. They weren’t programmers, but they were starting to participate in the digital innovation of their own departments.
The disruption of generative AI (2020s onwards)
The introduction of models like ChatGpt and Microsoft Copilot in Microsoft 365 changed the game starting in 2022. For the first time, any employee could not only access or configure, but create complete digital solutions by describing what they needed in natural language.
- A financial analyst generates a reconciliation dashboard in minutes.
- A plant engineer creates a workflow that connects sensors with real-time reports.
- An HR team trains an internal assistant who answers policy and benefits questions.
What previously took weeks to develop could now be resolved in hours, directly from the business units. This change altered the logic of digital power within the company: creation ceased to be exclusive to IT and became a shared capability across the entire organization.
In the 1990s and 2000s, IT was the sole producer of solutions. In the 2010s, it became an enabler of flexible self-service. And today, in the era of Generative AI, it is transforming into the architect and orchestrator of the digital ecosystem. Its role is to guide, ensure interoperability, safeguard security, and empower teams. It is no longer a bottleneck but a capability multiplier.
The Rise of Citizen Developers
The concept of Citizen Developer was coined by Gartner around 2017 , but gained real traction from 2020 onwards , when the pandemic accelerated internal digitization and forced companies to give greater autonomy to employees.
With generative AI, this profile finds fertile ground to flourish. Today we see employees from non-technical areas who:
- Finance: They build automated workflows for accounting closings.
- Operations: They develop predictive maintenance dashboards.
- HR: They generate bots that answer common queries without intervention from the department.
The most valuable thing about Citizen Developers is that they aren’t programmers, but creators . They combine their deep business knowledge with accessible tools to design concrete solutions that truly solve everyday problems.
What used to require months of development and a team of programmers can now be achieved in a few days, from an analyst’s desk and with just a well-designed prompt.
Unlike professional developers, Citizen Developers don’t write complex code; instead, they build solutions using natural language models or block-based tools . This technical accessibility allows employees with in-depth knowledge of a business process to create tailored solutions quickly and efficiently , without being entirely dependent on the IT department’s overloaded schedule.
Furthermore, factors such as the pursuit of productivity, the shortage of tech talent, team empowerment, and a focus on problem-solving are creating the ideal environment for the rise of the Citizen Developer . This is not a passing fad, but a structural response to the pressure to digitally transform businesses faster, at lower costs, and by leveraging internal talent.
Surveys confirm this trend: more than half of companies already have—or plan to implement—citizen development programs to channel this creative energy strategically.
Main Benefits for the Organization
From a strategic and executive leadership perspective, implementing well-managed Citizen Developer programs can decisively accelerate the digital transformation of any organization. The most relevant benefits of this new model are summarized below:
- Greater speed and agility in delivering solutions
- Increased productivity and internal innovation (decentralized innovation)
- Reduction of development and IT costs
- Reducing the backlog and focusing expert talent on priorities
- Better alignment between IT and business units
- Applications more aligned with the business and the customer
According to Gartner , 80% of enterprise applications by 2026 will be created by business areas, not by IT.
Main Challenges of this New Model
Adopting Citizen Developers offers great benefits, but it also presents challenges that must be managed carefully:
- Governance and security : Without control, shadow IT can proliferate , posing data and compliance risks. Solution: Define clear policies, approve platforms, and ensure IT acts as the guarantor of secure environments.
- Quality and maintenance : Business-created solutions can be faulty or lack support. Solution: Establish a Center of Excellence (CoE), train employees, and conduct light IT reviews to ensure minimum standards are met.
- Duplication and information silos : Different departments can create redundant or disconnected solutions. Solution: Maintain a central inventory of applications and promote communication between departments.
- Selection and skills : Not all employees are suitable. Solution: Identify ideal profiles (analytical, with business knowledge and digital affinity), provide training, and free up time for development.
- Cultural resistance : IT may see it as a loss of control, and employees as an additional burden. Solution: Communicate benefits, recognize achievements, designate champions , and create communities of practice that strengthen collaboration.
How to become a Citizen Developer
Becoming a Citizen Developer involves developing key skills such as identifying real-world problems, mastering technological tools like GPT, and collaborating with IT within a governance framework that ensures quality and security. This upskilling path is built step by step, through learning and practices that strengthen both individual autonomy and organizational innovation.
- Identify opportunities for improvement : The starting point is observation. Identify inefficient processes, repetitive tasks, or needs in your area that can be resolved digitally. The most impactful cases are those that alleviate daily workloads and generate immediate productivity gains.
- Upskilling in low-code/no-code platforms and GPT: Learning today is not limited to visual interfaces like Microsoft Power Apps, OutSystems, Mendix, or Salesforce Lightning ; it also includes developing prompt engineering skills with tools like GPT. Mastering the design of effective prompts allows you to transform ideas into prototypes, integrate business data, and generate solutions quickly.
DeepLearning.AI : The ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers seriesis available for free. And it’s not the only one: there are plenty of free resources online to help you continue learning. They’re definitely worth taking advantage of!
- Apply learning with a prototype: Start with simple projects: a digital form, an automated approval workflow, or an interactive dashboard. These prototypes are practice spaces where learning translates into concrete results.
- Collaborate with IT as a strategic partner: The IT department assumes the role of orchestrator and guarantor. Sharing progress, validating integrations, and working with common standards are part of collaborative upskilling that ensures quality and security.
- Test, measure, and communicate results: Skills development includes the ability to measure impact. Evaluate improvements in efficiency, error reduction, or time savings, and communicate the results to build trust and support.
- Stay evolving: Being a Citizen Developer is an ongoing process. Participating in training, joining internal communities, and adopting best practices from Centers of Excellence (CoE) strengthens your digital skills. With Generative AI as your ally, a well-designed prompt can transform an idea into a real solution in a matter of hours.
Conclusions
For business leaders and those responsible for digital transformation, the rise of Citizen Developers represents an unprecedented strategic opportunity . In an environment where speed, continuous innovation, and adaptability are critical competitive advantages, empowering business employees to create their own solutions multiplies the organization’s innovative capacity and accelerates digital transformation. It is no coincidence that firms like Gartner , Forrester , and McKinsey & Company agree that this trend will continue to grow and redefine how companies develop software.
Capitalizing on this phenomenon, however, requires leadership and executive vision . The CIO and senior management must lay the groundwork: selecting appropriate platforms, fostering a culture of collaboration between IT and the business, and establishing robust governance frameworks.
In short, Citizen Developers are changing the game . Technological innovation is no longer the exclusive domain of IT, but rather a collective effort across the entire organization. This democratizes innovation and opens the door for the best ideas—regardless of their origin—to quickly become real solutions.
The challenge for leaders is to find the balance between channeling this creative energy and avoiding chaos . Those who succeed will have more agile, innovative, and resilient organizations. In a world of rapid change, having an “army” of Citizen Developers will not only be an advantage: it can become one of the most valuable competitive assets of the modern company.
References
In terms of artificial intelligence https://www.deloitte.com/es/es/issues/en-clave-de-inteligencia-artificial.html
The transformative impact of generative AI on businesses and talent https://www.deloitte.com/es/es/issues/en-clave-de-inteligencia-artificial/impacto-transformador-ia-generativa-en-empresas-y-talento.html
What is a Citizen Developer? A Detailed Explanation and Guide 2025 https://kissflow.com/citizen-development/how-to-become-a-citizen-developer/
What Gartner Says About the Rise of the Citizen Developer https://kissflow.com/citizen-development/gartner-on-citizen-development/
Future of Citizen Development: Unlock your Workplace in 2025 https://quixy.com/blog/future-of-citizen-development
Gartner: The Future of IT Is with Business Units and Citizen Developers https://www.alphasoftware.com/blog/gartner-the-future-of-it-is-with-business-units-and-citizen-developers