What Is Citizen Development and How Can It Drive Warehouse Optimization?

Warehouse operations move fast, but software doesn’t always keep up. While your team spots workflow inefficiencies daily, getting IT resources to address them can take months — if it happens at all. Citizen development changes this dynamic by enabling warehouse managers and operations staff to build or customize their own solutions using low-code and no-code platforms. 

Here we explore how citizen development can transform your warehouse operations, reduce IT bottlenecks and put problem-solving power directly in the hands of the people who know your processes best. 

Exploring the problem: The challenges of traditional development 

The bottleneck in IT resources 

Custom applications are often essential for addressing specific organizational needs, especially in warehouse management where processes and workflows are unique to the operation and also evolve over time. Yet, developing these solutions traditionally requires skilled developers and significant time — resources that many IT departments simply don’t have. This bottleneck slows innovation, frustrates end-users and creates a dependency on external vendors. 

Misalignment between business needs and IT

Non-technical teams, such as warehouse managers or supply chain analysts, often have a deep understanding of the pain points and inefficiencies in their operations; however, they may struggle to communicate these nuances effectively to IT teams. The result: solutions that miss the mark or require multiple iterations, leading to wasted time and resources. 

Solution breakdown: What is citizen development?

Citizen development refers to the practice of enabling non-technical employees to create or customize applications using low-code or no-code platforms. These platforms provide intuitive interfaces, drop-down menus and pre-built templates, making it easier for business users to adapt existing functionality (adaptability) or extend what the software can do (extensibility) without altering the source code. 

How it works

1. Low-code/no-code platforms: Tools like Tecsys’ Itopia® platform allow users to customize screens, extend the data model, connect data sources and modify or automate workflows. 
2. Governance: IT teams establish guardrails and best practices to ensure security, compliance and scalability while empowering citizen developers to operate autonomously within these parameters. 
3. Collaboration: Business users and IT work together to align on objectives, ensuring that the solutions are both technically sound and operationally relevant. 

Practical examples

• Inventory accuracy: The system sends an email notification to selected users when an operator overrides the putaway location directed by the WMS (puts away inventory in a different location). 

• UI customization: Customize picking workflows for pickers using different scanning devices. 

• Data integrity: Streamline data transfer process and ensure standardization and product accuracy when importing product data from an external source. 
• Custom Dashboards: Warehouse and operations leaders build interactive dashboards to monitor KPIs, providing actionable insights at a glance. 

Strategic implications: The business case for citizen development 

ROI and efficiency gains

By reducing reliance on IT for software customizations, organizations can: 

• Lower development costs. 

• Accelerate time-to-market for new solutions, ensuring responsiveness to evolving business needs. 

• Free up IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine tasks. 

Transformation in WMS

For warehouse management systems, citizen development can: 

• Enhance flexibility - Quickly adapt warehouse workflows to changing operational requirements. 

• Improve decision-making - Provide real-time data insights directly to frontline workers. 

• Streamline processes - Automate repetitive tasks, reducing errors and improving throughput. 
• Empower non-technical teams - Democratize innovation and foster a culture of ownership by enabling those closest to the problem to create solutions.  

Unlocking the potential of citizen development

By equipping warehouse teams with the tools to build their own solutions, organizations can overcome resource bottlenecks, accelerate innovation and respond quickly to changing business needs. For supply chain leaders, this approach offers a practical path to solving today’s pressing challenges while building the agility needed for tomorrow’s success. 

Download our e-book Improving Warehouse Agility in Modern Supply Chains for strategies to make your warehouse more adaptable and prepared for what’s next.