Some digital transformation programmes might falter because they are slow to scale or become siloed efforts that fail to deliver significant change. Facing the same challenges, we have turned the model on its head at Aramco.

In 2021, we launched a pilot programme to train employees, regardless of their coding experience, to build their own digital solutions using intuitive low-code and no-code platforms. Today, that has evolved into BeyondØCode, a digital transformation delivery vehicle that unleashes corporate talent by empowering employees with digital tools and skills to address business challenges and seize opportunities. This vehicle powers more than 2,000 professionals and over 1,260 applications today.

As technology leaders rethink how to scale transformation under budget and talent constraints, Aramco’s approach points to a new model: decentralised yet governed, demand-led and driven by frontline business needs.

Accelerating change

Any large organisation pursuing digital change may be familiar with the obstacles: a shortage of qualified software developers, limited IT resources, and growing demand from the business for new tools and automation.

In our case, we noticed a growing backlog of solutions that keep getting deprioritised due to the capacity of our development teams and the nature of the solutions. This backlog included routine projects and simple dashboards that, from the business user’s perspective, would not take long to develop.

This growing demand sparked something new: rather than try to meet every request through centralised IT, we chose to empower people to solve their own problems.

Building a movement, not a toolkit

The initial programme we began with, Citizen Development, was built with governance at heart. A small cross-department internal team developed a framework to manage platform access, cybersecurity, training and oversight. Employees had to complete formal training and certification before they could begin, and every platform underwent thorough review, ensuring that any features posing a potential risk were disabled.

As momentum grew, the programme was rebranded to BeyondØCode, reflecting both a broader vision and a desire to avoid confusion with other initiatives. More importantly, it signalled a shift in emphasis: this was not simply about access to digital tools – it was about cultivating an innovative culture across the organisation.

To scale the initiative, we created an Ambassador Network – nominated individuals across the company who promoted BeyondØCode internally, coached new developers and promoted use cases for wider adoption. Meanwhile, we launched awareness campaigns, hackathons and recognition events to build community and reward innovation. The strategy worked: our small pilot became a movement.

Each use case shows that, when the people closest to the problem have the tools and training to act, effective solutions emerge

Real-world savings

The impact of BeyondØCode is significant. In upstream operations, engineers used to spend two hours compiling daily well performance reports. The team built a robotic process automation bot, known as Najib, that now generates the same report in two minutes, automatically collecting and processing data with minimal human oversight.

In one of our refineries, engineers used the Seeq platform to develop predictive analytics models that identify potential faults before they disrupt production. One early intervention helped prevent an eight-day outage in the hydrocracker unit, avoiding an estimated $12m in losses.

And a new dashboard has enhanced project management in our residential communities. Staff who managed more than 170 projects a year, with information from multiple sources, now have a real-time data view that has reduced manual effort, improved data integrity and accelerated decision-making.

Each use case shows that, when the people closest to the problem have the tools and training to act, effective solutions emerge.

Strategic impact

The benefits generated are substantial, but BeyondØCode’s biggest impact might lie in the cultural shift it has enabled. Business users are becoming creators, actively shaping how work is done. In departments like Finance, over 60 citizen developers now use low-code tools to build solutions that streamline audits, reporting, and planning.

Employees are more engaged, and many volunteer to showcase their work at corporate events or publish their use cases in internal publications. Our Citizen Developer Day, held over two days, was attended by over 1,000 employees from across the company. It included crash courses, exhibition booths and recognition ceremonies led by senior leadership.

Competition between departments has added further energy. Friendly rivalries are driven by reports highlighting which areas have developed the most solutions, while also serving as a prompt for others to get involved.

Expanding the frontier

The next stage is to extend the BeyondØCode approach to new technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence. And we are sharing our approach outside Aramco with peer organisations, including the Gulf Downstream Association, and collaborating with Saudi universities to introduce low-code concepts to undergraduates.

By empowering individuals to develop their own digital solutions, BeyondØCode redefines what transformation can look like at scale, showing that with the right governance, training and cultural support, innovation does not have to be bottlenecked by the capacity of central development teams. It can come from anywhere in the business.

For organisations seeking to move faster, become more agile, and unlock the full potential of their workforce, this grassroots approach offers a compelling path forward. In a tech-focused world defined by rapid development and change, BeyondØCode provides a blueprint for other companies around the world to follow.