From athletes to AI
How we’re bridging the digital divide
Digital skills give us access to life’s essentials – work, education, healthcare and financial services. They create opportunities and connect us
But as tech evolves and our lives increasingly move online, many are being left behind. It’s not just older people or those who can’t afford a mobile, tablet or laptop. The social media-savvy younger generation still has knowledge gaps. And research suggests 54% of the working population don’t have all the digital skills needed for life and employment.
Businesses, including firms like ours, have a role to play in making sure people can survive – and thrive – in today’s world. Because, if we don’t, the digital divide will get bigger.
Through our 5 Million Futures programme, our colleagues are donating their time and expertise to create change from the grassroots up. We’re sharing insights, building connections and exploring how AI can help make the digital environment an inclusive one. We’re also donating laptops so more charities, school children and families can get online.
Most of us are privileged enough to have the skills and technology we need to navigate the digital world. But there are 5 million people in the UK who don’t.
Across Deloitte, we’re doing something about it.
This year, as athletes inspired the country, we partnered with Team GB and ParalympicsGB to deliver ‘Get Set to be a Digital Champion’. This initiative set out to empower young people to champion positive digital experiences by providing free educational resources to teachers across the country, as well as offering a way for our people to engage with the community.
One of the sessions took place at London’s Addey & Stanhope School where Team GB rower and gold medallist Moe Sbihi MBE, ParalympicsGB table tennis player Ashley Facey and Deloitte volunteers, explored online inclusion with the students and discussed what it means to be safe and happy online.
Get Set to be a Digital Champion
Find out how students at London’s Addey & Stanhope School learnt how to be more connected and safer online with a little help from Deloitte volunteers, Team GB and ParalympicsGB champions.
Digital for social good
Our Deloitte Digital Connect programme, which just completed its third year, links digital leads in charities and social enterprises with experts who can offer advice to enhance their digital capabilities in a modern, connected world. Run in partnership with CAST, a charity which helps social impact organisations use digital for good, this initiative paired 30 non-profits with Deloitte mentors and delivered workshops to pass on skills and knowledge that digital leads can take forward beyond the programme.
We’re also at the forefront of research and helping inform policy in this area. For a pro bono project with the Digital Poverty Alliance, we explored the economic impact of digital exclusion. We’re a part of FutureDotNow, a coalition of industry leaders focused on closing the essential digital skills gap for working-age adults. Our work with them supported the development of a national plan for action and we are collaborating with a number of our clients on interventions to build basic digital capability in the working population.
"The impact and scale of this issue isn’t truly recognised. The majority of those being excluded are already below the poverty line or are struggling in other ways, and they’re forgotten because most people developing systems or tech don’t have the same experiences. As a firm committed to purpose, we need to lead the way on change.”
Jess Reddy, Digital Inclusion Lead, Responsible Business
Reusing tech responsibly
Our laptop donation scheme goes from strength to strength. We’ve committed to reconditioning all of our retired laptops and, this year, donated almost 4,000 to charities, schools, early year charities and refugees – we’ve given away more than 16,500 since we launched the initiative during the pandemic.
For many, the cost of a laptop is a stretch too far. But when someone in need receives one of our refurbished devices it can get whole households and teams online and the impact is multiplied.
"I can't thank Deloitte Digital Connect enough. Not only were they able to help Makespace with amazing workshops and guidance, but they also generously offered laptops which have been distributed to several organisations in our co-working spaces. This will give people the chance to have increased connections and improve their digital skills."
Fabio Di Donato, Community Development Coordinator, Makespace Oxford
An intelligent way to address exclusion
Digital exclusion is a pressing challenge – and the latest tech can tackle it.
Launched this year, PairD is Deloitte’s internal Generative AI platform. Built around ChatGPT 4 and trained on our own data, it allows us to bring the power of AI to routine tasks, within a closed, secure environment.
But imagine the impact of sharing that power with our charity partners.
Acknowledging that if people cannot use the latest technology, it could further exclude them, we’ve given the employees of disability equality charity, Scope, free access to PairD. And we’re backing this up with training and support. Not only is it enabling the organisation to safely explore the potential – and possible pitfalls – of AI, it’s also highlighting the barriers disabled people face when using it.
This is an important step in our ambition to make AI more inclusive and we hope to support more charities this way.
Within Deloitte Digital, we’ve developed the RISE for Growth proposition. It includes tools that help our clients and people view projects, for example digital transformations, through responsible, inclusive, sustainable and ethical lenses.
We’ve also designed a suite of RISE agents to add to PairD. When launched, they will act as a coach, so all our Deloitte practitioners can stretch their thinking, to benefit more of society.
“Inclusion is an imperative, people shouldn’t be left behind,” says Abbie Walsh, a partner within Deloitte Digital. “By embedding RISE into our everyday, we can really test its impact. We’re also baking trust and responsibility into our GenAI thinking.”
Get in touch
Jess Reddy
Digital Inclusion Lead, Responsible Business
+44 20 7007 4928
jereddy@deloitte.co.uk
It’s not only about access to technology – it’s access to the skills to use it that will really create opportunity to help close the digital divide.
Richard Houston, CEO, Deloitte UK and Deloitte NSE
