digital accessibility: enjoying the carrots and avoiding the sticks

Digital Accessibility – Enjoying the carrots and avoiding the sticks

Welcome

Webinar Chair

Robin KnowlesFounder Digital Leaders

Webinar Guidelines

1. Mute your microphone during the presentation

2. Contact Robin Knowles through the chat window if you have a question

3. Hold all questions until the end

Webinar Presenter

Robin ChristophersonHead of Digital Inclusion, AbilityNet

Accessibility Carrots and Sticks, January 2014. www.abilitynet.org.uk/webinars

Digital Accessibility: Enjoying the carrots and avoiding the sticks

Robin Christopherson, AbilityNet

[email protected] @USA2DAY

www.abilitynet.org.uk

@AbilityNet

[email protected] +44 (0) 1926

465 247


• Accessibility Services

• Disabled User Testing

• Accessibility Accreditation

• Workplace Assessments

• Free IT Support for Disabled People

• Free Factsheets

• My Computer My Way

• Technology4Good Awards

AbilityNet Adapting Technology. Changing Lives.


Key Benefits of Accessibility

For your website:

• Reach a wider audience – up to 20%

• Makes your site more useable for everyone – by 35%

• More mobile-friendly

• Reduces page weight, bandwidth and maintenance

• Improves search engine rankings

• Easier to refresh


Key Benefits of Accessibility

For your intranet:

• Cater for your disabled employees (of today and tomorrow)

• Raise awareness and create an empathetic environment

• Makes your intranet more useable for everyone – by 35%

• Reduces page weight, bandwidth and maintenance


Mobile Means Inclusion

• Mobile internet traffic routinely outstrips desktop traffic

• Revenue increasing – Black Friday up 187%, Thanksgiving 256%

• Mobile users constantly ‘temporarily disabled’ – e.g. good contrast

on sunny day or hands free use whilst driving

• Use cases will only become more extreme – e.g. wearable

computing

• ‘Accessibility’ no longer a niche consideration


Key Risks

• It’s the law – Equality Act, Disability Equality Duty, employment law

• Potential cost of litigation

• Lose employees, customers and clients

• Cost of medical retirement, recruitment and retraining

• Bad publicity/brand damage

• Retrofitting accessibility more costly and more difficult


Case Study: IBM Accessible Intranet

• Saved 40%+ in bandwidth costs

• Better able to share and adapt information


Case Study: Virgin Atlantic

• New website

• 68% uplift in revenue to £62m

• Won best website – Travel Industry Awards


Case Study: Legal & General

• Relaunched accessible site

• 95% increase in life quote requests online

• 90% increase in Life Insurance sales online

• 100% return on investment in 12 months

• Saved 200k per annum on site maintenance (66% saving)

• Speed/Effort required to manage content reduced from an average

of 5 days to 0.5 days per job

• www.legalandgeneralgroup.com


Digital Accessibility: Web Essentials

We’ve cracked it!


Collaboration: EHRC, BCS and AbilityNet

More details and demo available at www.abilitynet.org.uk/dawe


Web Essentials: eLearning for Everyone

Take the simple route to awareness for every employee and make your

services and products more inclusive

• Every member of your IT team

• Every employee that posts to your intranet, or creates any electronic

document (such as an email or Word doc)

• Guarantee base level knowledge of key accessibility issues

• Just a few pounds to take the course - £35 to get certified

• DAWE takes 80 minutes + an optional multiple-choice exam

• www.abilitynet.org.uk/dawe

Q & A

Send your questions to Robin Knowles through the chat window. Robin will select you to ask your question.

Thank you for joining us

We will connect you to each other via email after the webinar.A copy of this presentation will be uploaded to the Digital Leaders website shortly.

digital accessibility: enjoying the carrots and avoiding the sticks

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