{"id":21460,"date":"2018-01-22T15:11:39","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T15:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=21460"},"modified":"2018-09-17T16:20:10","modified_gmt":"2018-09-17T15:20:10","slug":"delivering-accessible-digital-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

It\u2019s well-known that organisations need to make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean when it comes to the online world of work?<\/p>\n

At Invotra, we power the intranet for over 200,000 users across central government, including the Home Office, DWP, DfT and HMRC.<\/p>\n

We want to make sure our intranet software meets the needs of all users, which means we\u2019re committed to making our products and services as accessible as possible. But it hasn\u2019t always been that way for us.<\/p>\n

Accessibility is not just about being \u201ccompliant\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Compliance suggests a kind of box-ticking exercise. In fact, we thought we were doing pretty well with our accessibility compliance until one of our customers asked us to politely reconsider.<\/p>\n

They asked us to actually sit with users to observe how they use our intranet software. We ran a number of focus groups, meeting with users with a range of disabilities to understand what their day-to-day challenges are.<\/p>\n

We were amazed, and not in a good way. We learned just how difficult it was to use our intranet software, despite being technically \u2018compliant.\u2019<\/p>\n

Accessible services are not somebody else’s problem<\/strong><\/p>\n

We tried it out for ourselves. We challenged ourselves to use our intranet whilst having our monitor turned off. \u00a0We learned how screen readers work and how to use them and the shortcuts they provide. We also tried using the site without a mouse.<\/p>\n

When we went through this exercise, we had an epiphany. We realised that we were not serving all of our users with a great experience and we needed to do better. Consequently, we changed the attitude of everyone working in Invotra to recognise the challenge of delivering an intranet for all users.<\/p>\n

The link between user experience and an accessible experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

We can define accessibility as:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quality or characteristic of something that\u00a0makes it possible\u00a0<\/strong>to approach, enter, or\u00a0use<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And this, of course, invites us to explore the definition of usability:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact of something being easy to use, or the degree to which it is\u00a0easy to use<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So it would appear that accessibility and usability are linked. One could argue that if you\u2019re not designing software to be accessible, then you\u2019re not designing it to be usable.<\/p>\n

And making software more accessible makes it easier to use for everyone. At Invotra, we\u2019ve spoken about this as designing an accessible experience (AX) for the 100%.<\/p>\n

Making the change to a more inclusive culture<\/strong><\/p>\n

First and foremost, our CEO, Fintan Galvin, completely understood and led the need for change. For any department or team, this is critical: the leadership must be engaged with and involved in the required change.<\/p>\n

Secondly, we communicated across the whole company the need for this change in attitude, holding regular meetings to discuss what was required for Invotra to evolve.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, we needed to learn and so we hired experts. We brought in accessibility consultants who work at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). They helped us understand just how quickly visually impaired users \u2018hear\u2019 webpages using screen-readers.<\/p>\n

Finally, we started the work to improve. We\u2019ve worked hard over the last year, instilling in our company what needs to change, and embarking on and executing that change.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next in Invotra\u2019s accessibility roadmap?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Invotra, we have much more to do to continue to deliver the best possible experience for everyone.<\/p>\n

From a product standpoint, we\u2019ve incorporated accessibility into everything we do, and continue to improve the usability of all the intranet features we provide.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, we listen to our end users and make fortnightly enhancements to our product based on user feedback.<\/p>\n

We take service very seriously. We\u2019re a young, British company, striving to do well and make sure our product meets the needs of all of our users. We\u2019re keen to prove ourselves amongst a sea of much larger, more entrenched technology companies.<\/p>\n

What challenges do you find with your digital workplace?\u00a0<\/em>We had some great feedback when we blogged on one of our customers\u2019 intranets and would love to continue that conversation within the context of the wider civil service. And to that end, if you have questions, comments or concerns about your digital workplace, drop us a line at\u00a0https:\/\/www.invotra.com\/about-us\/contact-us<\/a> or email us at\u00a0accessibility@invotra.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

This article was originally published here<\/a> and was reposted with permission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s well-known that organisations need to make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean when it comes to the online world of work? At Invotra, we power the intranet for over 200,000 users across central government, including the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":21461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-digital-inclusion","topic-digital-skills","topic-government","topic-transformation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAccessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Organisations make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean for online world of work?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Organisations make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean for online world of work?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/digitalleadersprogramme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-22T15:11:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-17T15:20:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"5616\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3004\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"helena.larsen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Organisations make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean for online world of work?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DigiLeaders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DigiLeaders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"helena.larsen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"helena.larsen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2da837c2b8c9912d5c8e0c6ba7458c1e\"},\"headline\":\"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-22T15:11:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-17T15:20:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/\"},\"wordCount\":756,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/\",\"name\":\"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-22T15:11:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-17T15:20:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"Organisations make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean for online world of work?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg\",\"width\":5616,\"height\":3004,\"caption\":\"Paul Zimmerman, COO at Invotra\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/\",\"name\":\"Digital Leaders\",\"description\":\"We Lead Transformation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Digital Leaders\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Digital-Leaders\u00ae-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Digital-Leaders\u00ae-logo.jpg\",\"width\":3000,\"height\":2992,\"caption\":\"Digital Leaders\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/digitalleadersprogramme\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/DigiLeaders\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/6527637\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCK1pUziPGg9J8R1S0FhBgiQ\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2da837c2b8c9912d5c8e0c6ba7458c1e\",\"name\":\"helena.larsen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6016ca9d43f5e0371abbcbe533c0e129080e7032b612ef2b2c173d1a732868b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6016ca9d43f5e0371abbcbe533c0e129080e7032b612ef2b2c173d1a732868b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"helena.larsen\"},\"sameAs\":[\"louise.stokes@digileaders.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government","description":"Organisations make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean for online world of work?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government","og_description":"Organisations make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean for online world of work?","og_url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/","og_site_name":"Digital Leaders","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/digitalleadersprogramme","article_published_time":"2018-01-22T15:11:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-17T15:20:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":5616,"height":3004,"url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"helena.larsen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government","twitter_description":"Organisations make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean for online world of work?","twitter_image":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg","twitter_creator":"@DigiLeaders","twitter_site":"@DigiLeaders","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"helena.larsen","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/"},"author":{"name":"helena.larsen","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2da837c2b8c9912d5c8e0c6ba7458c1e"},"headline":"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government","datePublished":"2018-01-22T15:11:39+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-17T15:20:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/"},"wordCount":756,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/","name":"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-22T15:11:39+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-17T15:20:10+00:00","description":"Organisations make \u2018reasonable adjustments\u2019 to make their physical workplace more accessible, but what does that mean for online world of work?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/27718065432_caf6a26c33_o-e1516633727504.jpg","width":5616,"height":3004,"caption":"Paul Zimmerman, COO at Invotra"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/delivering-accessible-digital-government\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Accessibility for the 100%: delivering an accessible digital workplace in government"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/","name":"Digital Leaders","description":"We Lead Transformation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#organization","name":"Digital Leaders","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Digital-Leaders\u00ae-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Digital-Leaders\u00ae-logo.jpg","width":3000,"height":2992,"caption":"Digital Leaders"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/digitalleadersprogramme","https:\/\/x.com\/DigiLeaders","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/6527637\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCK1pUziPGg9J8R1S0FhBgiQ"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2da837c2b8c9912d5c8e0c6ba7458c1e","name":"helena.larsen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6016ca9d43f5e0371abbcbe533c0e129080e7032b612ef2b2c173d1a732868b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6016ca9d43f5e0371abbcbe533c0e129080e7032b612ef2b2c173d1a732868b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"helena.larsen"},"sameAs":["louise.stokes@digileaders.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}