The AI-Powered Citizen Revolution: How Every Employee Is Becoming A Technology Creator

Something remarkable is happening in organizations around the world. The traditional gatekeepers of technology – IT departments – are witnessing a revolution as employees across all departments harness AI and user-friendly tools to become technology creators themselves. Marketing managers are building AI models, nurses are developing healthcare apps, and finance teams are creating their own automation solutions.

“This has been creeping up on us over time,” explains Tom Davenport, distinguished professor at Babson College and co-author of ‘All Hands on Tech: The AI-Powered Citizen Revolution.’ “Technology has gotten so much easier to use, and we all carry around very powerful devices in our pockets that we have to become familiar with if we’re going to negotiate modern life.”

The Three Types Of Citizens

The citizen revolution encompasses three main categories of technology creators. First are the citizen developers, who use low-code/no-code platforms to build applications. Second are citizen automators, who create workflows and automated processes. Finally, there are citizen data scientists who leverage AI and analytics tools to derive insights from data.

"The concept that humans are becoming more tech-savvy and more comfortable with technology is converging with technology becoming progressively more human and human friendly," says Ian Barkin, co-author of 'All Hands on Tech.' "To the point where so much attention is given to prompting and just effectively speaking to a computer and saying, 'this is what I'd like you to build for me.'"

From Valve Turner To Tech Pioneer

One of the most inspiring examples of this revolution comes from Shell, where Stevie Sims transformed from literally "turning valves" at a refinery to becoming a citizen developer champion. As Barkin explains, "You saw domain expertise leveraged, you saw an intelligent person who knew the business and understood the challenges operating in that environment, who was then able to turn those ideas into actions and created automations that then inspired a movement."

The IT Tension

This democratization of technology hasn't been without its challenges. Many IT departments initially resisted, viewing citizen development as dangerous "shadow IT." Davenport shares the story of "Mr. Citizen," a supply chain professional who dramatically improved his productivity using data analysis tools, only to face pushback from IT, who insisted he should use their preferred programming language instead.

However, progressive organizations are learning to embrace and enable it while maintaining appropriate controls. "If you think you can stop the ingenuity and problem-solving of your teams of people who both have the ideas and then the tenacity to pursue them to solve problems they face every day - if you think you can squash that, good luck," says Barkin. The solution, he suggests, is creating better structures that capitalize on people's desire to solve problems creatively while maintaining necessary safeguards.

Managing The Risks While Enabling Innovation

The key to successful citizen development isn't about replacing IT - it's about transforming IT's role from gatekeeper to enabler. Organizations need what Barkin calls "two ITs" - one focused on maintaining enterprise systems and security, and another dedicated to nurturing citizen developers through training, guidance, and maintaining safe development environments.

The most successful organizations are implementing what Shell calls a "red, amber, green" system - where green projects can be freely developed by citizens, red projects must be handled by IT, and amber projects require collaboration between citizens and IT professionals.

The Future Of Work And Innovation

This citizen revolution isn't just changing how technology gets created - it's transforming the very nature of work and innovation. Organizations that embrace this movement are finding they can innovate faster and more effectively by tapping into the domain expertise of their employees.

"This is an incredible resource," Davenport emphasizes. "Every organization today feels the need to digitize. It's taking too long. It's costing too much. There aren't enough professionals to do it. And you have this very powerful resource within your company of people who have domain expertise and can learn the skills that they don't have already."

Embracing The Revolution

The future belongs to organizations that can effectively harness this citizen movement while maintaining appropriate governance. As Barkin notes, "The future is going to be about a really sensible orchestration of the best AI for the job and really well-informed, capable humans."

The message is clear: the citizen revolution isn't something that can be stopped - nor should it be. Instead, organizations need to embrace and enable it, providing the right tools, training, and guardrails to help their employees become effective technology creators. In doing so, they'll unlock unprecedented levels of innovation and productivity while empowering their workforce to solve the problems they understand best.