Business Project: Age UK's Digital Services, Social Media & Barriers

This report presents a business project focused on Age UK, an independent charity supporting the health and well-being of elderly people. The research explores the company's background, organizational objectives, competitors, digital services, and social media presence. It reviews Age UK's mission to enhance the quality of life for the elderly, its company culture of integrity, and its competitors in the aged care sector. The report also discusses the products and services offered, including financial services and healthcare, and the use of social media to combat isolation during the pandemic. It examines Age UK's strategy for 2019-22, focusing on housing, isolation support, and digital inclusion initiatives. The report further analyzes digital mediums and social media platforms used by the elderly, highlighting the increasing trend of smartphone usage and internet availability. It identifies barriers to digital access, such as lack of digital skills, access to IT, and motivation. Finally, the report concludes with the merits and drawbacks of digital inclusion for the elderly and recommends a balanced approach to online learning, emphasizing the importance of understanding the specific needs and interests of the elderly to effectively engage them in the digital world. Desklib offers similar solved assignments for students.

BUSINESS PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................3
2 &3. Results and discussion:......................................................................................................3
4. CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................8
5. Recommendation.........................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

1. INTRODUCTION
The report is based on research being conducted on a company named Age UK. Age UK is a
charity which is independent and supporting the well being and health of the elder people living
in city and offer services localised in the branch. Th research is conducted on the background of
the company, its organisational objectives, competitors, review of digital services and social
media and the barriers faced by Age UK in clients getting access to digital service access.
2 & 3. Results and discussion:
Age UK
Mission: Aim of Age UK is to increase the range and quality of services which are life-
enhancing and support which is vital being available to people in elderly life.
Company culture: The company culture is of integrity and professionalism. There is quality in
services for the customers and communication and coordination with the customers.
Competitors
The competitors for the organisation are other organisation caring for old like Aged, RNIB etc.
Products/Services
The products offered by the company are car insurance, home insurance, travel insurance for
people who are above the age of 50s. The financial services are also a part of the products like
future plans and legal services (Hülür and Macdonald, 2020).
The services offered by the company are Health care for elders, independent living standards for
the elderly people. Travel insurance policies are also offered by the company.
The company in pandemic has used social befriending as a product for the elderly using social
media web tools and help in creating social media accounts and groups where the elder people
can intermingle virtually and avoid boredom. They are helped in the process by company
executives who make them understand the social web (Wildemeersch and Jütte, 2017).

Organisational strategy
The strategy for 2019-22 for the organisation is finding ways for supporting elderly people (Age,
U.K., 2018). The strategy includes providing housing facilities, providing support in isolation
and helping the communities which are local through local support providing. Support is also
being asked from different organisations to help in this social cause.
The organisation also is taking measures to bring the elder age group to digital world as it is
essential to remain connected through these means to take care of them when public distancing is
the norm.
Age UK has worked with 801 organisations which are intermediaries and have made reach
around 18638 people for digital technology benefits. Also, support has been provided to around
4000 elder people (Hülür and Macdonald, 2020).

Review of digital mediums and social media platform
Through secondary research undertaken, it was seen that in age group 55-75 years old,
smartphone was a medium which was popular for internet usage. 56% of people aged 75+
haven’t used internet recently and 36% of the people who are above 65 years of age have been
offline (van Hoof and Marston, 2021). Thus, it has been seen that over 79% of exclusion from
digital world is of people in the age group 65 years and above. There are factors which explain
the digital exclusion like:
A) Low income

B) Mobility challenge
C) Don’t know how to operate
Age UK has an aim to increase digital inclusion by making the elderly section realise its
importance and how it can be of use in their lives (Age, U.K., 2018).
There has been an increasing trend witnessed in last decade of increase in bandwidth connection
and smartphone usage which increased internet availability, however single person aged 65 plus
households still have lower internet access (van Hoof and Marston, 2021).
Web tools which have become famous among elderly
As per Wildemeersch and Jütte, (2017), it has been seen that if elder people engage in social
media, then it can help remove isolation. The social media websites like Facebook, twitter have
been sources of engagement and remove isolation. It has also been seen through research that,
certain areas of internet have a calming effect on the well being of the elderly people. Also, with
smartphones reaching homes, WhatsApp has also spell a cast on elders with its easy-to-use
features and remaining in touch at ease with friends (van Hoof and Marston, 2021). It has been
found in research that younger generation has been influential in making their parents learn about
the tools.
As per Khan, Siddique and Lee (2020), it can be mentioned that the age group between 50-60
have shown assistance for elderly 70-80 to learn these social web tools and special mention of
WhatsApp, which has been a hit among elderly and Age UK has assisted in making groups of the
elderly citizens so that they can remain in contact during pandemic days and ask for each other’s
well-being as well as share content which they find relevant for health and socialising. At
Facebook too, they have learnt to use accounts for seeing updates and pictures of their colleagues
and sending own too.

Barriers that Age UK face in getting clients for access to digital services
Firstly, as said by author, awareness of digital inclusion effects have to be spread in elder people.
Then, they can be brought on a common platform where they can discuss and benefit from each
other’s company. The barriers which have been identified in the research are:
A) Digital skills not present: The older generation did not have access to computer and other
technical gadgets like the current generation. Thus, they have inclination towards manual
way of work and do not know how to operate the systems. Also, this hinders their
progress for adapting to change. Age UK has reported that four million people over the
age of 65 had not used internet in their life.

B) Access to IT: Lack of digital access in homes which can be due to system not being
present due to lack of funds or immobility to use the system act as a barrier in digital
inclusion. It has been seen that 65+ age group with 2 person households have witnessed
an increase in access to IT and research shows number to be 88%. It has been seen in
households where one member is below the age of 65 (Khan, Siddique and Lee, 2020).
C) Motivation: Elder people do not have fancy for new technology and they tend to be more
spiritual than materialistic. Thus, there has been seen a need to arise their interest towards
net usage which can be done by creating awareness of its benefits and various apps which
can keep them engaged through meditation programmes, weather report updates, chat
with their age group and fight loneliness away. Age UK had started projects like Digital
Angel and One Digital project which were in collaboration with partners for funding.
Digital angels help in supporting people get online and form their network in
communities which are local like in libraries of community hall (Armitage and Nellums,
2020).
Age UK believe that building of an experience which is positive can help in removing
nervousness of old people. One digital project has people themselves training first who
are in their late 50s and 60s and inspiring older who are 75+ to get online training. The
tally has reached to 8241 elder people involved (Wildemeersch and Jütte, 2017).
Research shows that One Digital recruited 4700 digital champions and helped 61000
people learn digital skills.
4. CONCLUSION
There are both merits and drawbacks to the situation of elderly people getting access to digital
skills. Merits are that they will get in touch with their age group, friends and engage themselves
in conversation which shall keep them away from boredom. They will be able to make use of
technology for health benefits through use of apps for health and diet guidance. Drawbacks are
they may get addicted to the new change and suffer from other health problems like weakening
of eye sight, headaches etc. The time for inner consciousness realisation at an elder age may be
taken away by the digital inclusion (Armitage and Nellums, 2020).
Age UK will have to find a balance between the time elders are kept on digital learning and give
them time for their own personal life. Implementation of online tools will be success only then.

5. Recommendation
It will be beneficial to keep a limited version of digital inclusion as it can help address the
drawbacks of it as mentioned above, and when the positive results come, other elders will also be
motivated to take the path of digital learning and engage themselves in social media platforms.
Age UK has to make sure that the effect of constructivism digital learning makes an impact on
the elder and the motive to keep them happy and publicly engaged is served in the right manner
(Khan, Siddique and Lee, 2020). For this, needs of the elderly have to be understood in a
comprehensive approach and program of online learning can thus be made of the specific
interests of the people which can evoke their interest for further learning. Small networks of
theirs could be made of their friends where they can share their well-being as well as their
progress of learning online. These are some of the services which can be provided through Age
UK:
Types of
Local
Services
offered
About the service Delivery Delivery
during
Covid
Barriers How could it be
developed for
assistance?
Informatio
n and
Advisory
Providing information
and advice about various
topics.
Direct
Interaction,
On Email
On phone,
Email
Digital skills,
Access to IT,
motivation
Providing tutorials
Visiting
Service
Volunteers coming to
meet elders and
combating their isolation
Direct
Interaction
Calls on
phone like
WhatsApp
calling
Access to IT,
digital skills,
motivation
To inform of visiting, doing
WhatsApp calls to make the
elderly learn this skill
Computer
training
sessions
Weekly visits for giving
tutorials on handling
smartphones and tablets
Weekly
support
groups in
community
venue -
face to face
None Access to IT,
motivation,
digital skills
Training of online tools and
later on taking them to
stage of self-operating to
attend webinars.
Wellbeing
service
Approach of holistic
needs
Face to
Face,
Phone Access to IT,
motivation,
Learning for connecting on
social media sites and

Telephone digital skills making networks.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hülür, G. and Macdonald, B., 2020. Rethinking social relationships in old age: Digitalization and
the social lives of older adults. American Psychologist, 75(4), p.554.
van Hoof, J. and Marston, H.R., 2021. Age-friendly cities and communities: state of the art and
future perspectives. International journal of environmental research and public
health, 18(4), p.1644.
Khan, Z.H., Siddique, A. and Lee, C.W., 2020. Robotics utilization for healthcare digitization in
global COVID-19 management. International journal of environmental research and
public health, 17(11), p.3819.
Wildemeersch, D. and Jütte, W., 2017. digital the new normal-multiple challenges for the
education and learning of adults. European journal for Research on the Education and
Learning of Adults, 8(1), pp.7-20.
Age, U.K., 2018. Creative and cultural activities and well-being in later life. Age UK, London.
Armitage, R. and Nellums, L.B., 2020. COVID-19 and the consequences of isolating the
elderly. The Lancet Public Health, 5(5), p.e256.
Online:
AGE UK, 2018. Digital Inclusion Evidence Review 2018 [viewed 29 Jan 2021].
Available from:
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/report
s-and-publications/
age_uk_digital_inclusion_evidence_review_2018.pdf
AGE UK, 2020a. Age UK research lays bare the drastic impact of the
pandemic on our older population’s health and morale [viewed 22 Jan
2021]. Available from:
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/latest-press/articles/2020/10/age-uk--research-
into-the-effects-of-the-pandemic-on-the-older-populations-health/