Tackling the digital divide and empowering the future workforce
Tackling Economic Inequality - Create new businesses, jobs and skills, and increase supply chain resilience and capacity.
Empowering the future workforce and addressing the digital divide.
In the time of a cost-of-living crisis, growing digital skills gap, and the birth of Artificial Intelligence (AI), how can we as technology companies assist in tackling economic inequality through a targeted response to the policy outcomes in the Social Value model?
Our mission at Accenture is simple. We want to provide outcome-focused Social Value initiatives to drive impact for our clients, delivering positive and measurable social, economic, and environmental change in the communities where we live and work. Accenture Health and Public Services Client Accounts have now delivered £18.6m of Social Value to date, validated by our third-party measurement partner, Social Value Portal.
The following statistics demonstrate the need for swift, material, and tailored solutions in our Social Value responses in line with Procurement Policy Note 06/20:
- Within 20 years, it is predicted that 90% of jobs will require digital skills1, yet 93% businesses in the UK report there is a digital skills gap within the UK job market.2
- 40% of UK businesses report AI and machine learning as the most sought-after skill in the job market.3
- A lack of basic digital skills is costing UK workers £5.69 billion in additional earning, with 21% of the workforce reporting needing greater digital skills to earn a higher salary to combat the cost-of-living crisis 4
For these reasons, Theme 2 of the Social Value Model, Tackling Economic Inequality, is our focus today.
At Accenture, deploying technology and digital skills is core to our community investment strategy and addressing the digital divide. In 2018, we developed our digital skills and employability hubs: the Skills to Succeed Academy and Accenture Digital Skills. In 2021, the Accenture Digital Skills course was recognised as accredited CPD training. Through partnerships with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), National Careers Service, Careers Wales and Skills Development Scotland, our programmes have already reached more than 550,000 people across the UK. With the AI era upon us, we have developed AI modules to empower the UK workforce to stay up to date on key emerging technologies. Modules include an Introduction to AI, AI in Industry, and how to adapt your skills to work with AI within the workplace.
At Accenture, our longstanding commitment to corporate citizenship has led us to have the building blocks in place to help scale social value through collaboration. For us, as Tech businesses, the next step is to consistently provide palpable and focused Social Value in the communities where we do work, through our central government engagements and collaboration with our public sector clients.
An example of this came on one of our contracts with HMRC, delivered in conjunction with one of our external Social Value delivery partners, Startup Sherpas, in Autumn 2023. We ran a ‘SuperSquad’ – a 6-week, practical, paid work experience programme where teens from across the UK engaged in real business and societal challenges. For this SuperSquad, we asked 100 teenagers, from 71 different ethnic backgrounds across the UK to develop ideas to combat tax fraud.
The Squad generated a total of 1,000 ideas, encompassing AI-powered financial management applications, educational campaigns for young people, and technology for detecting counterfeit currency. It was designed to foster an environment where a wide array of ideas could flourish, driving real innovation, whilst giving the students genuine work experience. Key headlines from the Squad are seen below:
- 41% of the teenagers now see a career in Tech.
- 16% are considering a career in Tax.
- 17 students are investigating career opportunities directly with HMRC.
- 47% felt more confident at communicating.
- 48% felt their creativity had improved.
- £13k paid into local teen economy.
- £201k of Social Value created.
Through this work Accenture, HMRC, and Startup Sherpas created direct social and economic impact in the communities where these 100 teenagers live, business impact through the innovative ideas for HMRC and transformative impact for the teenagers taking part.
This is a great example of collaboration across public, private, and third sectors to really focus on a specific need. Social Value cannot become a transactional exercise from contract-to-contract. Instead, we need to work closely with clients and delivery partners to draw out the true localised benefits that can be realised through a collaborative approach. We, as Social Value leaders, all have a shared responsibility to build a fairer, more inclusive society. Let’s work together to make a real difference.
Zach Beckett, Social Value Knowledge Management Lead in the Social Value Centre of Excellence at Accenture. Zach has worked in Social Value for 3 years, timing the wave perfectly to join the industry as Procurement Policy Note 06/20 was mandated into Central Government contracts.
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Heather Cover-Kus
Heather is Head of Central Government Programme at techUK, working to represent the supplier community of tech products and services to Central Government.
Ellie Huckle
Ellie joined techUK in March 2018 as a Programme Assistant to the Public Sector team and now works as a Programme Manager for the Central Government Programme.
Annie Collings
Annie joined techUK as the Programme Manager for Cyber Security and Central Government in September 2023.
Ella Gago-Brookes
Ella joined techUK in November 2023 as a Markets Team Assistant, supporting the Justice and Emergency Services, Central Government and Financial Services Programmes.
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