Infosys partners with Southwark Council to offer digital skills to small biz, startups

India’s second-largest IT services firm Infosys on Tuesday announced a collaboration with Southwark Council, the local authority for the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London, to launch its digital learning platform ‘Springboard’ in the region.

This initiative aims to provide Southwark communities including small businesses, startups and educational institutions with free access to Infosys’ flagship digital learning platform, Springboard.

Southwark Council has created a three-year strategy to support digital inclusion across all its communities, delivered alongside the council’s wider strategic framework. The council believes that access to the internet, a device, and the skills to go online should be considered the fourth utility, no different from gas, water, and electricity.

Springboard provides content on digital learning, emerging technologies, and life skills, partnering with various organisations to advance the digital economy. Infosys Springboard specifically helps small to medium-sized enterprises in Southwark enhance services through digital initiatives like social media content, multimedia content, content marketing, multi-channel content, and advertising, generative artificial intelligence (AI) content creation, creative and AI skills, while offering opportunities to improve employability.

Following its successful launch in Brent in 2021 and expansion to Sandwell in 2023, which benefited over 50,000 users, Springboard continues to address the digital skills gap. Dionne Lowndes, Chief Digital & Technology Officer of Southwark Council, emphasized that this collaboration is vital to their three-year digital strategy, empowering people and businesses with essential digital skills.

Thirumala Arohi, Executive Vice President and Head of education, Training and Assessment, Infosys, emphasised the importance of upskilling and reskilling. “Empowering individuals, entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses through digital efforts is a key focus for Infosys,” he said.

Not just Infosys, tech companies are coming up with their own digital literacy effort for small businesses, communities and startups. For example, Adobe’s new skilling initiative launched earlier this month aims to bring AI literacy, content creation and digital marketing skills to 30 million people including small business and startup owners worldwide.

This year, the company has invested over $100 million in donations, scholarships, product accessibility, and partnerships to empower individuals and organisations worldwide in association with Coursera.

Other companies such as Microsoft, Google, AWS, and Cisco among others are offering various programmes for small businesses, startups and digital enthusiasts on advanced digital literacy skills for upskilling and reskilling.