What is Accessibility and Why It Matters in Business Accessibility is about making sure that everyone, including people with disabilities, can fully access and engage with an environment, product, or service. In a business context, this means ensuring your workplaces, websites, product, and service offerings are usable by all employees and customers. In this comprehensive guide, we explain what accessibility means, why it’s crucial for businesses, and how focusing on needs like blind and low-vision accessibility can open doors to new opportunities. Contents What is Accessibility? Accessibility in the Business Context Why Accessibility Matters for Businesses Digital Accessibility Challenges for Blind and Low-Vision Individuals How Businesses Can Improve Digital Accessibility for Blind and Low-Vision People Embracing Accessibility as Good Business What is Accessibility? At its core, accessibility is the practice of designing products, services, and environments so that all people can use them. Traditionally, the term brings to mind physical accommodations such as installing elevators and ramps so wheelchair users can enter a building, or adding Braille labels on elevator buttons for blind users. However, accessibility is equally important in the digital world. Web and digital accessibility means that websites, applications, customer service channels and digital tools are built so people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with them. Accessibility in the Business Context When we talk about accessibility in business, we’re referring to the ease with which a company’s products, services, workplaces, and communications can be used by all employees and customers. A high degree of business accessibility means fewer barriers for anyone interacting with your organization. Here are a few key areas that business leaders should consider: Physical Accessibility: Ensuring offices, stores, and facilities are accessible. This involves things like step-free entrances, accessible restrooms, elevators with Braille and audio announcements, and clear signage. Digital Accessibility: Making digital products, content (websites, mobile apps, electronic documents, kiosks, etc.) and customer service channels accessible to people with disabilities. This is increasingly crucial as more commerce and work happens online. Digital accessibility means using proper web design techniques (following standards like WCAG) so that users who are blind, low-vision, deaf, or have motor or cognitive disabilities can use your online services. Communication Accessibility: Ensuring all forms of communication (from marketing materials to customer support and internal presentations) are accessible. This could involve providing sign language interpreters or captioning for webinars and meetings, offering alternate formats (like large print or Braille) for written materials upon request, and implementing customer support solutions like the Be My Eyes Customer Accessibility Suite. Workplace Accessibility: Creating an inclusive workplace where employees with disabilities can perform their jobs effectively. This includes providing reasonable accommodations (like assistive software for a blind employee or flexible scheduling for someone with a medical condition), making internal tools and intranets accessible, and fostering a culture of inclusion. Making a business accessible is fundamentally about treating accessibility as an integral part of operations and strategy and creating environments where all people can participate and contribute. Why Accessibility Matters for Businesses Accessibility is sometimes perceived as a matter of compliance or corporate social responsibility, but it’s much more than that. Brands that are accessible generally perform better than those that aren’t, due to increased customer satisfaction, brand loyalty and a more engaged workforce. Let’s explore some of the key reasons why accessibility should be a priority for every business leader: Wider Market Reach and Customer Base: One of the most straightforward reasons is the sheer size of the population that benefits. Over 1 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability, representing a huge market segment with a collective spending power of more than $13 trillion (WHO). Enhanced Brand Reputation and Customer Loyalty: Embracing accessibility signals that your company values inclusivity, diversity, and excellent customer experience for all. This can significantly enhance your brand image. Customers increasingly favor businesses that demonstrate social responsibility and empathy and this reputational benefit also extends internally: an accessible and inclusive workplace boosts employee morale and pride, which in turn reflects positively on the brand. Driving Innovation and Better User Experience: Many accessibility features end up being innovation drivers that improve the overall user experience. When you solve problems for users with disabilities, you often discover solutions that make your product better for everyone. Legal Compliance and Risk Mitigation: In many jurisdictions, accessibility is the law. Governments around the world have enacted regulations requiring businesses to make their services accessible, such as the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), EAA (European Accessibility Act, Equality Act and WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). When businesses prioritize accessibility and adhere to standards they minimize costly legal action. Employee Productivity and Inclusion: Businesses that are accessible can attract and retain talented employees with disabilities, who might otherwise be locked out by inaccessible tools or workplaces. Additionally, a commitment to accessibility and accommodation in the workplace can reduce turnover (employees feel valued and are less likely to leave) and expand the range of skills and perspectives in your teams. Future-Proofing and Adaptability: Embracing accessibility prepares businesses for the future. Populations are aging globally and by building accessibility now, you are ready for these demographic shifts. Digital Accessibility Challenges for Blind and Low-Vision Individuals As the world’s leading accessibility platform for the blind and low-vision community, it’s essential that we highlight their specific challenges and needs in this guide. Here are some of the most common digital accessibility challenges for blind and low-vision individuals in a business context: Lack of Text Alternatives for Visual Content: Images, charts, or icons that convey information but do not have text alternatives (like alt text on websites or descriptive labels on physical signage) are inaccessible to blind users. Poor Color Contrast or Reliance on Color: Low-vision users and many seniors struggle to read text that does not sufficiently contrast with its background (e.g. grey text on a light background). Likewise, relying on color coding alone to convey information (such as “fields highlighted in red are required”) is problematic. Inflexible Text and Layout: Content that cannot be resized or that breaks when zoomed in poses a barrier for people with low vision. If a user with limited vision can’t enlarge text or uses a screen magnifier and the layout becomes unusable, they will have difficulty consuming your content. Missing Structure and Navigational Aids: Blind users rely on semantic structure (headings, lists, landmarks) to navigate digital content via screen readers. If a webpage or document lacks proper headings or logical order, or if an application has an inconsistent and unpredictable navigation flow, it becomes extremely time-consuming or impossible to navigate. Inaccessible Forms and Controls: Online forms or checkout processes often present hurdles. Common issues include form fields without labels (a screen reader might just say “edit box” without context like “Name” or “Email”), error messages that aren’t announced to assistive tech, or controls (buttons, links) that are not keyboard-accessible. Inadequate Support for Access Technologies: Blind users typically browse digital content using screen readers and access technology. If a website’s code is not compatible with these technologies, it creates a major barrier. Examples include unlabeled buttons (the screen reader can’t guess what “Button XYZ” does if not labeled), improperly coded tables or lists (which can confuse the reading order), or images of text (which aren’t actual text and not readable by software). How Businesses Can Improve Digital Accessibility for Blind and Low-Vision People Understanding the challenges is the first step; the next is implementing solutions to make your business more accessible to people who are blind or have low-vision. Here are a few ways businesses can address blind and low-vision accessibility needs: Provide Text Equivalents for All Visual Elements: Ensure that every image, graphic, or non-text element in your digital content has an appropriate text alternative. For websites and apps, this means using descriptive alt text for images (e.g., <img src=”logo.png” alt=”Our Company Logo”>). Use Clear Layouts with Proper Structure: Design web pages and documents with a logical heading structure and consistent layout. Use HTML tags for headings (<h1>…<h2>…) rather than just enlarging or bolding text, so that screen reader users can navigate by heading. Ensure that sections of your site are introduced with clear titles and that interactive elements (like navigation menus) appear in a consistent order. Design for Keyboard-Only Navigation: Make sure that every interactive element (links, buttons, form fields, menus) can be accessed using the keyboard alone. This typically means that as you press the TAB key, you can see a focus indicator moving through all clickable items in a sensible order. Ensure High Contrast and Flexible Text Scaling: For low-vision users, contrast and scale are key. Follow guidelines for color contrast (WCAG provides specific contrast ratio recommendations) so that text stands out clearly against backgrounds. Test with Real Users and Access Technologies: One of the most effective ways to improve accessibility is to involve people who are blind or have low vision in testing your products. Usability testing with access tech will quickly reveal issues that might be missed by developers. Train Your Team and Build an Accessibility Mindset: Accessibility should be a shared responsibility across your organization. Provide training for your design, development, and content teams on accessibility principles and techniques. Simple steps like educating content authors to write meaningful link text (e.g., not just “click here”) or teaching designers about color contrast go a long way. Leverage Standards and Guidelines (WCAG): Businesses don’t have to start from scratch. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a comprehensive roadmap for digital accessibility. WCAG, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), outlines testable success criteria (like ensuring all images have alt text, keyboard accessibility, sufficient contrast, etc.) at different levels (A, AA, AAA). Most legal requirements worldwide reference WCAG Level AA as the target for compliance. Invest in Accessible Customer Service: Customer support is one of the most critical touchpoints in any business yet for blind and low-vision individuals, it is too often designed without accessibility in mind. However, improving the accessibility of your customer service experience is one of the fastest, most visible, and most cost-effective wins a company can make on its accessibility journey. Solutions like the Be My Eyes Customer Accessibility Suite which includes Service AI, Service Connect, and the Service Directory offer organizations a powerful and scalable way to deliver accessible support. Whether through AI-powered image interpretation or one-click video connections that allow agents to “see” through their customers’ smartphones enable brands to provide truly inclusive service without overhauling their entire CX infrastructure. Embracing Accessibility as Good Business Accessibility is often described as a journey, not a destination. As technologies evolve and our understanding of user needs grows, businesses must continuously refine their practices to remain inclusive. For C-suite leaders, championing accessibility sends a clear message throughout the organization: everyone matters. It aligns with the core business values of reaching more customers, delivering excellent user experiences, fostering innovation, and acting ethically and responsibly. By understanding what accessibility is and why it matters, from the broad business benefits down to the specific needs of blind and low-vision users, decision-makers can better integrate accessibility into business strategy. This might mean investing in training, updating legacy systems, allocating budget for accessibility improvements, or even creating roles (like an Accessibility Officer or inclusive design team) to ensure ongoing focus. As you lead your organization forward, consider accessibility as both a value and a strategy. It’s about doing what’s right and doing what’s smart for your business. When you make accessibility a priority, you are investing in a future where your business can truly say it serves all and misses none, and that is a vision worth striving for. Take the Next Step with the Be My Eyes Customer Accessibility Suite If you’re ready to turn your accessibility goals into real-world impact, our Customer Accessibility Suite mentioned prior is the place to start. Designed specifically to meet the needs of blind and low-vision users, our suite combines the power of AI, one-touch video support, and centralized service discovery into a seamless solution that scales with your business. Whether you’re aiming to reduce support costs, improve customer satisfaction, or future-proof your CX, Be My Eyes provides the tools and the trusted community to help you lead with inclusion. Request a demo today and discover how it could work for your business.
