Room for improvement

QA Vector, the research arm of QA Financial, an independent information, resource and events company focused on helping financial services firms improve software quality, recently conducted a survey of these firms (including insurance companies, banks, asset managers and fintechs) and found that many of them are not adequately ensuring their digital properties are accessible. Specifically, the survey found:

Only 35% of software leaders across various types of financial services firms say accessibility is among their top strategic concerns.
Only 25% are embedding accessibility testing into software development. Attention to accessibility is usually driven by legal action or complaints.
More than 70% of financial services firms indicate no clear ownership of digital accessibility within corporate governance.
Fewer than 30% of financial services firms have reliable or meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs) for accessibility.

Failure to pay attention to accessibility can have several negative ramifications. First, there's the sheer market size to consider — approximately one in five people in the United States, or 64 million, have at least one type of disability, according to the American Institutes for Research. There is also potential brand damage to consider, with consumers' decisions on who they choose to conduct business increasingly influenced by social justice causes. Finally, inaccessible digital properties may translate to legal risks, with the latest data showing the rate of ADA website lawsuits was neck-and-neck with 2018′s historic rates; by mid-year 2019 (the latest statistics currently available), lawsuits were being filed at the rate of one per hour.

Special Reports /

Elevating digital accessibility as a user experience pillar

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