Dramatic increase in business focus on digital accessibility

The results of the third annual Accessibility and Inclusive Design Survey conducted by Applause, a company known for testing customer journeys across various digital platforms, have recently been made public. The findings reveal a marked shift in attitudes towards the importance of digital accessibility within the corporate sector.

The survey, pooling the opinions of over 3,500 software developers, legal, QA, and UX professionals, shows that the significance of digital accessibility has seen a significant rise. It has now become a higher priority for 44% of businesses, a notable upward trend from the 27% registered in 2023. Encouragingly, about 77% of the surveyed firms have a dedicated team or member whose responsibilities include ensuring product accessibility.

Despite the rising profile of digital accessibility, the study highlights the disparity between the stated goals and adequate resource allocation for attaining these objectives. While a considerable 87% of companies have incorporated inclusive design principles and 79% strive to integrate accessibility aspects into their plans at the earliest stages, merely 19% possess sufficient resources to conduct accessibility testing on an ongoing basis. This shows a stark rise of inadequacy from the previous year's 23% to 26% in 2024. Half of these companies resort to AI and automated tools for identifying the issues.

On the legislative front, the picture is far from rosy. The European Accessibility Act (EAA), expected to come into effect in June 2025, is bound to impact businesses operating in the EU. The rule mandates that digital products and services ought to be accessible to disabled individuals. Yet, the survey findings indicate that only a third of global businesses are prepared to comply with these upcoming regulations. Worse still, more than a third of the European businesses have not even embarked on their compliance readiness plans.

However, the silver lining in the survey is the growing adherence to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. From 35% businesses meeting WCAG 2.1 standards in 2023, the number has risen to 42% businesses conforming to WCAG 2.2 standards in 2024. On a brighter note, the primary motivation, as voiced by 57% of businesses, behind achieving accessible conformance was to improve usability for all, a sentiment echoed by 45% of global participants.

In this context, Bob Farrell, Vice President of Solution Delivery and CX Practices for Applause, said, "Accessibility is an increasingly important focus area for companies. Growing awareness of the importance of employing inclusive design principles and writing code with accessibility in mind is not just driving value for people with disabilities, but helps deliver great digital experiences for all users."

Despite these advancements, he warns against overreliance on automation and AI for accessibility purposes. Farrell opines, "Many accessibility issues are simply not machine-detectable, and though AI is already improving issue discoverability, it too is still not a stand-in for real human perspectives." Highlighting the need for further improvements, he states, "Though the results of the survey show a promising upward trend, under half of all companies still do not meet WCAG 2.2 standards and two-thirds are behind schedule to comply with the forthcoming European Accessibility Act."