In recent decades, application development has been the exclusive domain of IT programmers, but this might change in the future!
Considering the increasingly competitive business demands, the only way for enterprises to develop is to increase their business capabilities and accelerate delivery speeds without incurring additional costs.
To address the digital challenges faced by enterprises, Citizen Development (CD) paves the way for non-technical business users (also known as Citizen Developers). Using IT-approved Low Code/No Code (LCNC) platforms, it is possible to intuitively build enterprise applications in an efficient, flexible, and user-friendly environment.
The Value of Citizen Development
According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), Citizen Development will be a disruptor of this new norm, and many low-code/no-code platforms have already demonstrated this to their clients and partners. In practical use, LCNC has proven its ability to significantly reduce the complexity of application development at a minimal cost. So far, many organizations have started adopting citizen development in their operations to stimulate rapid change and create a unique footprint in the community, thereby benefiting overall productivity. Particularly in today's digital realm, low-code/no-code plays a key role in helping businesses leverage the limitless potential offered by this new digital space and easily spark innovation.
Recommended Tools
As a Citizen Developer with basic computer skills, you'll need various tools to assist in your work. Here are some recommended tools to make your job more efficient.
ILLA Cloud
If you're considering building a business-logic oriented tool and only require a beautiful UI without pursuing complex animations and flashy pages, ILLA Cloud is recommended for development and construction.
ILLA Cloud is an out-of-the-box low-code tool that allows quick construction of internal tools with simple JS, without the need to create new projects.
- Web & App Admin Panel
- Data Dashboard
- Customized B2B Tools
- CRM
ILLA Cloud lets you quickly build tools through drag-and-drop without needing to write code, boosting your work efficiency by 10 times. It also natively supports team collaboration, allowing you and your colleagues to edit and build together.
ILLA Cloud also features connector capabilities, enabling quick connections to other SaaS tools you use. It supports scheduled tasks, Webhooks, parameter passing, and more.
ILLA Cloud also includes an AI Agent feature, helping you quickly build AI-driven tools, such as text analysis, voice analysis, image analysis, and more.
Webflow
If you're considering building a user-facing tool with high UI requirements, seeking complex animations and cool pages, Webflow is recommended for development and construction.
Webflow naturally supports a plethora of animation functions and powerful UI configurations, allowing you to build stunning pages in a very short time. It also natively adapts to mobile devices.
Webflow's community has a wealth of templates supporting various business needs, like e-commerce, blogs, corporate websites, and more.
Webflow also includes a CRM backend for managing website visitors, eliminating the need for secondary development for basic management tasks and enabling quick use.
Of course, Webflow also supports hosting services without any operational costs.
Supabase
When you've built an online site, you'll use Webflow for the user-facing parts and ILLA Cloud for internal tools. But you're still missing an important piece.
For the data in your business development, you need a place to store it.
Supabase is recommended for storage, offering the following advantages:
- Developer-friendly, catering to both super complex and simple business needs.
- Scalable, dynamically expanding with your business, so you don't have to worry about technical issues due to rapid business growth.
- Supports various SDKs for compatibility with different technologies.
- Easy operations using SQL, as Supabase is based on PostgreSQL, allowing for quick data manipulation.
Conclusion
For Citizen Developers, simple and easy-to-use tools are key to enhancing work efficiency. Choosing the right tools for your needs is crucial. Hopefully, everyone can find useful tools and become an outstanding Citizen Developer.