Definitions:
Shadow IT: Refers to the use of information technology systems, software, or applications without explicit approval or oversight by an organization’s IT department. Employees or departments typically adopt shadow IT to address specific needs, often due to the perceived inefficiency or limitations of the approved systems.
Citizen Developers: Individuals within an organization who create or modify applications or software without formal training in software development, often using low-code or no-code platforms. They do so to meet business requirements or automate processes outside the reach of the traditional IT department.
Problems They Try to Fit:
Shadow IT:
Agility and Speed: Employees may feel that IT departments are too slow to meet their needs or that the official tools available do not suit their requirements. Shadow IT provides a more immediate solution.
Innovation: Employees using tools they’re familiar with may experiment with new ideas or workflows, leading to innovative solutions that are not constrained by traditional IT processes.
Citizen Developers:
Business Efficiency: Citizen developers help address gaps in business processes or systems by creating or modifying tools that serve specific needs, without waiting for IT’s involvement.
Overcoming IT Bottlenecks: Citizen developers reduce dependency on the IT department, especially when IT resources are limited or overstretched, enabling business units to quickly deploy solutions that improve operational efficiency.
Pros and Cons:
Shadow IT:
Pros:
1. Speed and Flexibility: Allows users to quickly adopt tools and solutions that meet their needs, bypassing slow IT processes.
2. Innovation: Users might explore new, creative solutions that IT might overlook.
3. Autonomy: Empowers departments to find solutions without waiting for approval or guidance from central IT.
Cons:
1. Security Risks: Unvetted software can introduce vulnerabilities, including data leaks, malware, and non-compliance with regulations.
2. Lack of Governance: Without IT oversight, shadow IT can lead to fragmented, inconsistent systems that are difficult to manage.
3. Data Silos: Data managed outside of official systems can create isolated islands of information that are hard to integrate with central systems, reducing visibility and efficiency.
4. Compliance Issues: Shadow IT can lead to violations of privacy regulations, industry standards, and internal policies if the tools used are not compliant with legal or regulatory requirements.
Citizen Developers:
Pros:
1. Empowered Employees: Provides employees with the tools to address their specific needs, increasing productivity and satisfaction.
2. Speed and Cost Efficiency: Reduces the backlog of requests for IT development, leading to faster delivery of solutions at a lower cost.
3. Innovation: Encourages business-oriented problem-solving and innovative thinking, resulting in tailored applications.
4. Agility: Citizen developers can make adjustments to systems more rapidly, addressing changing business requirements faster than formal IT development cycles.
Cons:
1. Skill Gaps: Citizen developers may lack expertise in best practices for software design, leading to poor-quality code, inefficiencies, or scalability issues.
2. Integration Challenges: Solutions developed by citizen developers may not integrate well with existing systems, leading to inefficiencies and additional work for IT.
3. Security and Compliance: Like shadow IT, applications developed by citizen developers may bypass IT security controls, introducing risks related to data protection, user access, and compliance.
4. Lack of Maintenance and Support: Citizen-developed applications may lack long-term support or be abandoned when the developer leaves, creating ongoing maintenance challenges.
Comparison:
Control and Oversight: Shadow IT lacks even more oversight than citizen development, as it often occurs without IT department knowledge or approval. Citizen developers, on the other hand, work within the boundaries of low-code or no-code platforms that often have more structure and governance than tools used in shadow IT.
Collaboration with IT: While both shadow IT and citizen developers circumvent traditional IT systems, citizen developers typically have more structured engagement with IT teams, especially when IT departments support the use of low-code platforms. Shadow IT tends to be more siloed and uncoordinated.
Security and Governance: Both can pose security and compliance risks, but citizen developers can be more easily incorporated into the company’s security policies through established platforms. Shadow IT, by contrast, is harder to monitor and control, posing higher risks.
Innovation vs. Standardization: Shadow IT might drive more unregulated innovation as employees try out new software solutions, but citizen developers tend to produce solutions that align more closely with organizational needs, though still with a risk of non-standardization across business units.
Conclusion:
Both shadow IT and citizen developers aim to solve the problem of bottlenecks in IT processes, but they do so with different levels of structure and oversight. Shadow IT addresses immediate needs but can result in security, governance, and integration challenges. Citizen developers, while offering similar advantages in terms of speed and innovation, can be better supported by IT through the use of low-code platforms and proper governance. Both approaches require careful management to balance flexibility with security, integration, and compliance.