Citizen developers and business technologists have been key in helping organizations with their digital transformation journeys. According to IDC, over the next five years, more than 500 million applications will be created. The question is, who will build these solutions?

It's no secret that IT departments do not have the capacity to build all these apps, automations, and now agents. There is huge pressure from businesses for these solutions. While there is a huge demand, we lack the technical talent (software developers, AI engineers, data analysts, etc.) and budget to build these solutions in a timely manner. Citizen development can free up IT's precious time, allowing them to focus on more strategic work.

On the other hand, IT needs to establish guardrails, proper governance, and an engagement model for citizen developers. Without these, the risk of shadow IT becomes a reality.

Another concern is technical debt. According to Protiviti, organizations today spend an average of 30% of their IT budgets and invest a fifth of their IT human resources on technical debt management. That money could be spent on R&D.

What is the solution? Establishing a structured approach for citizen developers, with proper training, governance, and collaboration with IT.

That was my topic at the M365 Community Days DC event. Huge thanks to Jamie Willis-Rose, John "Jay" Leask III, the event sponsors, and the volunteers for organizing this event. And of course, Sean Astrakhan, thanks for your insightful session and for taking the pictures.

If you are a citizen developer and want to learn more about not only low-code/no-code platforms but also frameworks to build solutions right, check out the following resources:

👉 Project Management Institute's vendor-agnostic Citizen Developer frameworks: https://lnkd.in/eDS2aGK6
👉 Untethered 365 for how to become a solution architect in Power Platform: https://lnkd.in/exenp_Ac
👉 Microsoft Power Up Program for deepening your expertise in Power Platform components: https://lnkd.in/eFrkecQz