We’ve been asked to comment on a
whirlwind of activity around AODA or the Accessibility for Ontarians with
Disabilities Act. In our Fall Seminar
series, we learned that AODA has very specific timelines in place that mandate
specific compliance for organizations with over 20 employees. One of the early deadlines just passed,
January 1, 2014. By this time,
organizations must be WCAG A compliant and have an accessibility plan outlined
and documented. AA compliance accrues to
a future date.
This is having some specific impact
on organizations which have not put a plan in place, and notably, one of the largest
property & casualty insurers in North America recently sent out a notice to all Ontarian customers informing
them that:
“Due to technical
limitations, starting December 8th 2013, most or possibly all
documents you view online will no longer be available. Unfortunately, this is a necessary step as we
improve the overall accessibility of our site.”
In the age of online customer
service in which virtually all organizations not only have extensive website
service channels, they actually use the website to reduce more expensive call
center traffic. The impact in terms of
brand damage and sheer cost we know is huge.
This is
completely avoidable. The technology
exists to quickly remediate websites, but even beyond that, there is now
readily available technology to remediate high volume insurance documents,
insurance cards, policies, bills, notices, claim letters, and the like. Don’t let this happen! Attend an Actuate webinar or seminar on
document accessibility and find out what you can do!
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