Empathetic Innovation: Bridging the Gap Between Technical and Business Users in Digital Transformation

As a Digital Innovation Specialist, I work with both technical and business professionals, and I have observed a common phenomenon: technical people often express disdain or frustration when business people use no-code tools, advocate citizen development, or promote technical immersion workshops for business users to learn new skills. While these initiatives can be invaluable for bridging the communication gap between technical and business domains, and driving digital transformation and innovation, they can also create misunderstandings and biases that undermine collaboration and progress.

One may easily conclude that technical professionals feel that making technical know-hows assessable devalue the hard-earned skills and knowledge of technical professionals. After all, many have spent years learning complex programming languages, mastering software development tools, and acquiring specialized knowledge. Why wouldn't they feel that non-technical individuals using no-code tools or citizen developers are bypassing these requirements and producing lower-quality applications as a result?

However, I found from my interviews what technical professionals are really wary about is that non-technical individuals do not fully understand the implications and limitations of the tools they are using. For example, a business person using a no-code tool may not understand the technical complexities of data storage or the security implications of the data they are collecting. Technical professionals worry that these oversights could lead to data breaches or other issues down the line.

They may be skeptical of the quality of applications produced through no-code tools and may believe that these tools are too simplistic or that non-technical individuals lack the expertise to create sustaining applications. This bias are reinforced by the bad experience that many applications created through low code/ no code tools are limited in scope or functionality, which may lead to frustration and disappointment for business teams and eventually make it harder for technical teams to fix.

On the other hand, technical immersion workshops are designed to provide business people with a basic understanding of technical concepts and processes to facilitate communication gap between technical and business domains. However, business users may still find the workshops complicated by technical concepts, terminology, jargons and acronyms that may be unfamiliar to non-technical individuals, which in turn discourage business users from following along or contributing effectively to the conversation.

Immersion workshops may move too quickly through technical concepts or processes, assuming a level of knowledge that non-technical individuals may not have. This can lead to confusion for business people, who may feel like they are being left behind. Business people also commonly struggle with the practical application of technical concepts. While they may be able to understand technical concepts on a theoretical level, they may not be able to apply them in a practical context. This can limit their ability to contribute meaningfully to technical projects or initiatives.

Despite the challenges and biases that can arise from low-code/ no-code tools, citizen development, and technical immersion workshops, it's important to recognize the benefits they provide. No-code tools and citizen development movements can enable non-technical individuals to create functional applications quickly and efficiently, providing non-technical individuals with a better understanding of technical concepts and processes.

If we view these tools and workshops as a way to revolutionize how businesses communicate their requirements, these tools allow business users to create partially functional products, i.e. prototypes, without the need for coding or programming knowledge, enabling them to communicate their requirements and desirable outcomes more effectively and efficiently. More importantly, the prototypes allow business users to visualize and foresee what potential operational challenges they might need to tackle, and form the basis to define the success or measure the performance of this new product.

Hence, by enabling business users to create their applications using low-code, no-code tools, and to speak certain degree of technical language, citizen development movement can reduce the burden on IT teams, enabling them to focus on more complex tasks that require specialized technical skills such as security and networking. This approach also enables organizations to address digital transformation initiatives more quickly and effectively, providing business users with the tools they need to innovate and improve operational efficiency.

Most importantly of all, it fosters a culture of innovation within organizations. By empowering business users to create prototype applications, they are enabled to identify opportunities for process improvement and customer experience, driving organizational growth and competitive advantage. By encouraging non-technical individuals to participate in application development, organizations can create a more diverse and inclusive culture that fosters creativity and innovation.

How about we have technical professionals to mentor and take additional steps to support these initiatives? For example, technical professionals can work collaboratively with business users to establish best practices and platform for no-code application development, including security protocols, quality assurance processes, and testing procedures. Technical professionals can also provide guidance and support to business users on how to launch their applications, ensuring that they are following established protocols and adhering to technical standards. Technical professionals can champion a buddy system to provide training and education to business users to help them develop the technical skills they need to succeed, such as pre-selected no-code tools for application development, designing workflow, data analytics, cybersecurity, etc.

Successful examples of citizen development abound across industries. For example, the insurance industry has seen significant success through the use of citizen development initiatives. By enabling claims adjusters to create custom applications to manage claims, insurers have been able to streamline the claims process, reduce manual data entry, and improve customer service. The healthcare industry has also seen success. By empowering clinicians to create custom applications that help them manage patient care, healthcare providers have been able to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and enhance the patient experience.

The goal of an innovation program is to establish a deep understanding of both technical and business domains, and works intentionally to bridge their perception gap. By fostering collaboration between technical and business users and promoting a culture of continuous improvement, the program helps its organization to maximize the benefits of citizen development while mitigating its risks. Through its ability to empathize with the challenges faced by both technical and business users, the program can help organizations create a culture of innovation, equipping its talents with the mindset, skillset and toolset to drive an impactful digital transformation.