Vivienne Conway and Natalie Collins talk through how web accessibility practitioners can encourage Australian businesses to embrace WCAG 2.0 through providing them with a business case.

1. MEMBERS
Reaching Corporate Australia
with a Business Case for
Website Accessibility
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2. Introducing
Natalie Collins
Vivienne Conway
Deputy Chief Executive,
Media Access Australia
Director, Web Key IT
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3. What is a business case?
“Business case” refers to an assessment of likely
benefits and disadvantages of investing
resources to achieve a particular outcome.
Conducted by all different industries and service
sectors.
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4. Aims of the business case
• ‘Sell’ the importance of web accessibility to
the organisations’ decision makers.
• Seek ‘buy-in’ from management.
• ‘Build’ web accessibility into plans, reporting
and feedback.
• Establish a ‘repeatable’ process.
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5. Why create a business case?
Consider and explore the factors for why a
business case is important and feasible
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Social
Technical
Financial
Legal and policy
Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization. Shawn Lawton Henry and
Andrew Arch, eds. Copyright © 2012 W3C® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio). Status: Updated 7 September
2012. http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/
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6. Social factors
Consider the number and types of people
affected.
• With and without disability
• Older people
• Low literacy
Digital divide and inclusion issues.
• Access to technology
• All kinds of technology
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7. Social factors – the big Cs
Customer service
• Improved customer experience
Communications
• Public relations benefits, corporate social
responsibility
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8. Technical Factors
Technical considerations
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Use of appropriate technology
Identifying key web technical factors
Future proof technologies: responsive design
Reduction in website development and
maintenance
• Reduced load on server and bandwidth
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9. Financial Factors
Financial Considerations
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Return on Investment
Costs versus cost savings: both now and in future
Increased website use: SEO
Customer service
Procurement of accessible services
Competitive advantages
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10. Legal and Policy
Legal and policy considerations in Australia UN Convention on Human Rights
Disability Discrimination Act
National Transition Strategy (Government)
• Identify the legal requirements and policy
obligations
• What to do when addressing multiple standards?
• Understanding the risk for non-compliance
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11. Motivations for adoption
These include:
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Financial gains (medium to long-term);
Risk of legal action;
Public relations, CSR benefit;
Inclusive, motivated workplace for staff;
Knowledge retention and increased productivity;
Competitive advantage for early adopters; and
Pleasant, cohesive customer experience.
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12. Ultimately
Ultimately, the business case for implementing
web accessibility comes down to:
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It's the right thing to do;
It's required by law;
It's better for business outcomes;
It's better for your brand; and
The cost outlay is outweighed by the cost benefit.
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13. Workshop: DIY business case
The following fictitious organisations were assigned to groups. The
task was to determine they key reasons why the organisation
needs to incorporate web accessibility.
• Outback Travel (Tourism)
• Australiana Airlines (Transport)
• Aura Electricity (Utility)
• Fantastic Organic (Supermarket)
• Conglomerate Media (Integrated media)
• Empire Investments (Financial services)
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14. Business case outcomes
• Social
• Ability to reach a wider market (disabilities, older
people, English as a second language)
• Better experience for all consumers: increased
customer retention.
• Positive corporate social responsibility and
perceived positive brand.
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15. Business case outcomes
• Technical
• Improved user experience online
• Future proof: device friendly, especially mobile
integration
• Interoperable with other systems
• Improved ‘find-ability’ and SEO
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16. Business case outcomes
• Financial
• Cost effective in the long term with accessible
information online
• Competitive advantage: increased market share =
more customers
• Increased engagement with customers
• Reduced overheads and costs: call centres and
printed materials, postage
• Increase market share and profit
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17. Business case outcomes
• Legal
• Requirement to comply with
• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (2006)
• Disability Discrimination Act (1992)
• Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy (2010)
• Risk mitigation: reduce exposure to litigation
which is expensive and can lead to bad publicity
• Protect reputation
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