Re: Costs of Accessibility?

Hi everyone,

I want to point out that it is very nice for folks who don't work in very
large shops to say "well it just should be designed as accessible, there
shouldn't be any extra cost."

But realistically, even if we are talking about deciding that our new sites
should be designed as accessible as opposed to remediating old sites, there
is a cost of staff training, there's a cost for enterprise compliance
software and a cost to integrate that into continuous deployment systems,
there's a cost for the resource person at a large shop (which often means an
FTE as someone said), there is extra time to be spent in QA to check these
new guidelines . . . granted, while those numbers might be quite big, these
costs are still quite small in proportion to our overall budget, but it's a
sum of money that has to come from somewhere, and it's an estimation
problem.

For me as a staff person at a large company, what I really need to
understand is: "What will the training cost look like per person in job
function x?" "What will the costs of accessibility look like for the initial
projects (which will probably require multiple cycles of develop - qa -
remediate to get up to standard), and how will this cost decrease over
time?"  "What is my expected ROI on this effort?"

Katherine

On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 6:53 AM, Sims, Glenda L <gsims@austin.utexas.edu>wrote:

>  Lainey,
>
>
>
> You likely already have this data in your brain…but just in case you don’t.
> I love the “Case Study of Accessibility Benefits:  Legal & General (L&G)
> article posted at http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/legal-and-general-case-study
>
>
>
> *Accessibility changes*
>
>
>
> ·         *Measures taken:*
>
>
>
> o   Accessibility audit and usability testing of existing site
>
> o   Market research from the existing customer membership
>
> o   Incorporation of the accessibility needs of the target audience most
> likely to be excluded or obstructed by inaccessible websites
>
> o   A new site was designed and built, seeking to ensure conformation to
> all relevant accessibility standards, successful passing usability testing
> and evaluation by users with disabilities5 before going live.
>
>
>
> *Results*
>
> ·         Within 24 hours natural search engine traffic saw a 25%
> increase, eventually growing to 50%.
>
> ·         Significant improvement in Google rankings for all target
> keywords
>
> ·         Reduction in maintenance costs by 66%
>
> ·         Site visitors receiving quotations doubled within 3 months
>
> ·         100% return on investment (ROI) in 12 months
>
>
>
> *Additional benefits*
>
>
>
> ·         Average times for content maintenance jobs reducing from 5 days
> to 0.5 days, saving £200,000 GBP per year
>
> ·         Page loading times reduced by 75%
>
> ·         Positive customer feedback on noticeably improved performance of
> site
>
> ·         Inaccessibility complaints reduced to zero
>
> ·         New site is accessible to mobile devices
>
>
>
> I think an example of the concrete ROI data you seek can be found in this
> research.
>
>
>
> Looking forward to seeing you at AccessU West in January 2011.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Glenda
>
>
>
> glenda sims   |   university of texas at austin   |   accessibility and
> web standards advocate
>
>                   *web for everyone. web on everything.* - w3 goals
>
>
>
> *From:* w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Lainey Feingold
> *Sent:* Friday, November 05, 2010 1:05 PM
> *To:* w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> *Subject:* Costs of Accessibility?
>
>
>
> Dear WAI list:  In its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, The U.S.
> Department of Justice asks a question about cost:  "Question 13:  What are
> the annual costs generally associated with creating, maintaining, operating,
> and updating a website?"  Please share any information on this, as well as
> any information on the additional cost (if any) of including accessibility!
>  (off list to LF@LFLegal.com)
>
>
>
> I wrote about the costs of creating my accessible website at
> http://lflegal.com/2010/10/lflegal-doj-anprm/  More examples like that
> would be helpful to the Department.
>
>
>
> You can read all 19 questions in the full ANPRM at:
> http://www.ada.gov/anprm2010/web%20anprm_2010.htm
>
>
>
> Thanks, Lainey
>
> Lainey Feingold
>
> Law Office of Lainey Feingold
>
> http://lflegal.com/
>
> 510.548.5062
>
> LF@LFLegal.com
>
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/LFLegal
>



-- 
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Katherine Mancuso: crusader of community art, social technology, &
disability

Current work:
Walt Disney Imagineering & Parks and Resorts Online, Intern (work:
accessibility evangelism & interactive projects)

Research:
Center for Assistive Technology & Environmental Access (http://www.catea.org
)
Georgia Tech, Digital Media (http://dm.gatech.edu)

Community:
The Vesuvius Group: metaverse community builders (
http://www.thevesuviusgroup.com)
Gimp Girl Community Liaison/Research Fellow (http://www.gimpgirl.com)
Alternate ROOTS: arts*community*activism (http://www.alternateroots.org)

Contact in the web, the metaverse, the world:
http://twitter.com/musingvirtual
http://muse.dreamwidth.org
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kathymancuso
SL: Muse Carmona
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