Investing in making IT systems accessible to an aging
population and to disabled people gives a clear competitive
advantage, Barclays Bank said this week.
The bank is making its IT systems more accessible to disabled and
older people as it presses ahead with a £9m branch refurbishment
programme.
The move comes as businesses face increasing pressure from groups
such as the Royal National Institute for the Blind, which is
funding legal action against firms whose websites are not
accessible to visually impaired users.
Pressure groups are increasingly turning to the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995, which requires all organisations to make
"reasonable adjustments" to their systems to allow people with
disabilities to access them.
Roger Davis, chief executive of Barclays Business Banking, said
making systems accessible to disabled people was not altruism but
"pure business common sense". Speaking to City of London executives
last week, Davis said the bank had dramatically improved morale
among its staff by investing in IT support for 400 of its staff who
are registered disabled. "The difference it makes to the
organisation is palpable," he said.
Microsoft believes providing greater accessibility to IT will
increasingly become a business driver in Western countries as the
average age of the working population increases.
Madelyn Bryant-McIntire, director of Microsoft's accessible
technology group, speaking at a conference organised by the
Worshipful Company of Information technologists and the Lord Mayor
of London, said business needs were driving accessibility, rather
than philanthropy.
Tim Berners-Lee said accessibility is one of the cornerstones of
the World Wide Web Consortium, the body that sets the future
direction of the web. "Accessibility is intimately connected with
good design," he said.
James Stracahn, chairman of the Audit Commission, called on IT
suppliers to embed accessibility and usability in the development
cycle from the outset. Procurement procedures should include full
accessibility as a mandatory requirement, he added, urging
individuals not to hesitate to invoke the Disability Discrimination
Act.
IT minister Stephen Timms said, "IT has an important part to play
in creating the inclusive society we all want."