As the European Accessibility Act (EAA) approaches its 2025 implementation deadline, software companies must take proactive steps to ensure compliance. This follow-up blog delves into why software companies need to establish a robust accessibility roadmap, including the importance of third-party Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs) and continuous updates.
We’ll also explore how European businesses must prioritize accessible procurement, ensuring that software vendors are committed to ongoing accessibility improvements.
This is not just about meeting regulatory requirements but about enhancing product usability and expanding market access.
The EAA and Software Companies: Building a Strong Accessibility Roadmap
Software companies, particularly those operating in or targeting the European market, must recognize the significant impact the EAA will have on their business.
The EAA requires that digital products and services be accessible to people with disabilities, aligning closely with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA and the EU’s EN 301 549 standards.
Why an Accessibility Roadmap is Essential:
- Regulatory Compliance: The EAA mandates that all digital services provided to European consumers or businesses be accessible. Without a clear accessibility roadmap, software companies risk non-compliance (including putting their customers at risk of legal action), leading to potential legal consequences, including fines and restrictions on market access.
- Market Differentiation: Accessibility is not just a regulatory requirement; it’s a market differentiator. Companies that demonstrate a commitment to accessibility with a clearly defined action plan and success metrics will stand out in a crowded market, attracting a broader customer base, including public sector clients who are bound by strict procurement guidelines.
- Continuous Improvement: The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and so are accessibility standards. A strong accessibility roadmap should include a commitment to continuous product improvement, ensuring that your software remains accessible as new features and updates are released. Accessibility is simply not a one-and-done checkbox, it must be baked in your product and development teams standard practices through continuous testing and training.
- Third-Party Validation: Obtaining third-party VPAT ACRs is a critical component of your accessibility roadmap and long-term success. These reports provide an objective assessment of your product’s accessibility, demonstrating your commitment to compliance and giving customers confidence in your product. Allyant recommends updating these reports at least every 12 months to reflect the current state of your software’s version and accessibility.
Key Steps to Develop an Accessibility Roadmap:
- Assess Current Accessibility: Start by conducting a thorough assessment of your software’s current accessibility. Especially for complex software applications, this must include live-user testing with individuals who have disabilities (along with automated testing), to identify and effectively address both WCAG compliance violations and usability issues.
- Create a Long-Term Plan: Develop a detailed roadmap that outlines your accessibility goals, timelines, and milestones as a major step in building confidence with your customers that are bound to complying with the EAA that you are committed to both providing an accessible product and maintaining it through ongoing processes. This plan should include regular updates to your VPAT ACR, ensuring that your software remains compliant with the latest standards and through future software enhancements.
- Engage with Third-Party Experts: Partner with accessibility experts, like Allyant, to obtain third-party VPAT ACRs. These reports are not only valuable for compliance but also for gaining insights into areas of your product that can be improved. In many situations, this is also critical to moving through procurement processes or RFPs as many global organizations are specifically requesting and requiring third-party VPATs as part of their purchasing process.
- Focus on Usability: Accessibility is not just about meeting the WCAG standards; it’s about ensuring that your software is usable by those leveraging it with assistive technology. Incorporate feedback from live-user testing into your development process to continually improve your product is the only way to ensure both ongoing compliance and usability for people with disabilities.
European Businesses: The Need for Accessible Procurement
On the flip side, European businesses have a critical role in ensuring that the technology they procure is accessible. Under the EAA, deploying inaccessible software could result in non-compliance, exposing your organization to legal and financial risks.
Building a Strong Accessible Procurement Model:
- Procurement Policies: European businesses must develop procurement policies that prioritize accessibility is both the purchasing and software renewal process for any third-party software or application they are deploying to their consumers or internal employees. This includes requiring that all software vendors provide a third-party VPAT ACR, demonstrating that their products either meet the necessary accessibility standards or they have a roadmap and continuous improvement processes in place to ensure compliance within a reasonable timeframe.
- Continuous Evaluation: Accessibility is not a one-time checkbox. Businesses should implement a process for continuously evaluating the accessibility of the software they procure, ensuring it remains compliant as new updates and versions are released.
- Vendor Accountability: Hold your software vendors accountable by requiring them to demonstrate ongoing accessibility improvements. This can include regular updates (we recommend every 12 months) to their VPAT ACRs and engagement in live-user testing to identify and address potential accessibility barriers. For most software vendors, their first VPAT will be their worst VPAT, and that is ok! However, their should be improvements on these reports overtime for software vendors committed to providing accessible products.
- Guidance and Resources: I would strongly considering utilizing Disability:IN’s Procure Access ToolKit as a resource. This toolkit provides comprehensive guidance (at no cost!) on how to incorporate accessibility into your procurement processes. As a signatory of the Procure Access statement, Allyant is committed to testing all products we procure for accessibility, including live-user testing as a baseline requirement.
How ProcureEnsure simplifies software procurement
- Comprehensive Live-user Procurement Testing: Allyant’s ProcureEnsure service offers European businesses access to the same rigorous testing that we use for our own procurement. This includes live-user testing with people who have disabilities, ensuring that the software you deploy is truly accessible.
- EAA Compliance: ProcureEnsure helps businesses navigate the complexities of the EAA, ensuring that they are not unknowingly breaking conformance by deploying inaccessible software. This service provides peace of mind, knowing that your procurement processes align with the latest accessibility standards and at minimum creating a documented paper trail that you have assessed third-party software vendors and provided them with a notice of non-compliance when applicable. Your team should not assume the legal risk for a third-party software vendor that is not committed to accessibility!
Conclusion: A Collaborative Approach to Accessibility
The EAA is a powerful reminder that accessibility must be at the forefront of both software development and procurement.
For software companies, building a robust accessibility roadmap with a focus on continuous improvement and third-party VPAT ACRs is essential. On the other hand, European businesses must ensure that they are procuring accessible technology, holding their vendors accountable, and utilizing amazing resources like Disability:IN’s Procure Access ToolKit.
By working together, software companies and European businesses can create a more inclusive digital landscape, ensuring that all users, regardless of ability, have equal access to technology. Allyant is here to support both sides of this equation, offering expert guidance, testing, and services like ProcureEnsure to help you navigate the EAA and beyond.
For more information on how Allyant can help your organization meet its accessibility goals, whether through VPAT ACRs or accessible procurement, please reach out to our team.
