Capgemini has once again supported The Prince's Trust Future Steps challenge, that encourages people to walk or run 10,000 steps a day while fundraising to transform the futures of young people through training, education, and confidence-boosting.

Youth charity, The Prince's Trust worked with Capgemini's team of digital innovators and junior talent to develop the app that helps participants track their progress and fundraising efforts. 

For Capgemini Business Analyst, Ayoola Fajuyigbe, taking part in the Future Steps app project was a real stretch learning opportunity for her. "It allowed me to step up to the role of a Business Analyst and Product Manager giving me vital experience in product delivery," says Ayoola.

Helping to deploy digital capabilities

Capgemini has a longstanding relationship with The Prince’s Trust. The work undertaken together has enabled Capgemini to support thousands of young people through a variety of different programmes and projects, with Capgemini employees volunteering as mentors and supporting initiatives. In 2022, Capgemini was shortlisted at The Prince’s Trust Partnership Awards as one of the charity’s Partners of the Year.

Capgemini Head of Digital Inclusion Sally Caughey [pictured above] explains how Capgemini's partnership helps enhance the digital capabilities of The Prince Trust while also providing an in-depth learning opportunity for the company's junior talent.

"When working with charities, we always look for opportunities where we can help make a material difference to how technology is used to deliver an organisation’s goals. Part of our contribution over the years has therefore been to help The Trust effectively deploy digital capabilities, such as when delivering services during the Covid-19 pandemic," says Sally.

Creating a more inclusive app

The Prince's Trust charity reached out to Capgemini for app development support due to the company's expertise in mobile technology and historic support for the challenge. As a result, Capgemini has worked together closely with the charity to improve the app and also sponsored the Future Steps event.

Capgemini supported The Prince’s Trust to launch the new, more inclusive app to support the challenge. This meant that wheelchair users were able to take part for the first time.

"For the Future Steps challenge, the team at The Prince’s Trust wanted to further develop the app. This included adding the ability to use additional wearable devices to track steps, changes to the overall user experience (making the app even slicker), plus the introduction of gamification to keep people going during those dark February mornings and evenings! The team also focused on the integration of JustGiving, to make fundraising easier for participants," says Sally.

A key learning opportunity for Capgemini’s junior talent

Capgemini welcomes hundreds of new graduates and apprentices in a typical year. The company is always looking for opportunities to upskill and expose them to exciting new projects. "And what is more exciting than a project that really makes a difference?" adds Sally.

"With the focus of The Prince’s Trust being young people, the charity was very supportive of Capgemini’s junior and emerging talent spearheading the project with the right support mechanisms in place. The project created a fantastic environment which has really helped to accelerate their learning. Apprentices and graduates from across the business were onboarded onto the Future Steps project," comments Sally.

"These included recent graduates from Capgemini’s programme in partnership with Code Your Future, the not-for-profit organisation that trains socially excluded people as software engineers. Senior support was also put in place including a senior engineer, senior designer and a developer to coach and mentor the team. Capgemini’s junior talent were empowered to get on and drive the project forwards. They were given day-to-day responsibility and accountability for the project and the flat hierarchy allowed direct exposure to The Prince’s Trust team in an open and collaborative, yet safe environment – not something that is always possible at a junior level," continues Sally.

Developing the app

The Prince’s Trust and Capgemini team worked together to improve the app ready for the challenge. A huge amount of work was undertaken during this period to improve the design and user experience of the app.

"An ethos of inclusivity remained at the heart of the app development project, with all changes to the user journey reviewed for usability by those walking, running or rolling the challenge. All language used was thoroughly reviewed to ensure inclusivity. The Future Steps challenge app offers a slicker and more inclusive experience than ever before. It can be downloaded from both the Apple and Android app stores. We are excited for those taking part in the challenge to try it and welcome any feedback," says Sally.

"Overall, the project has been a huge success. The Capgemini team involved benefitted enormously from the project and were able to learn a wide range of skills, from app development and design through to project ownership working in close collaboration with The Prince’s Trust. Due to the nature of the multi-disciplinary project and team makeup, they were also able to gain an insight into different areas of our business and build their network within Capgemini," adds Sally.

"The team can now take this experience and skills learned and apply it to future client work. This project truly represents digital inclusivity at its best. Not only did it use technology to help maximise opportunity for The Trust to support young people at a time when this is greatly needed, it also provided the opportunity for our junior talent to learn skills that they can take forward in their careers."

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