Positioning Accessibility at the Heart of the Enterprise

Neil Milliken, Global Head of Accessibility for Atos, kicks off the 2024 ACCESS program by examining the strategic imperative of centralizing accessibility within organizations. Drawing from his experience, Neil delves into how accessibility serves as a catalyst for innovation and a cornerstone of organizational culture. He offers a fresh perspective on how businesses can transcend mere compliance and strategically embed accessibility into their fundamental operations.

Explore transformative strategies that redefine accessibility’s role, uncovering its potential to propel innovation, nurture collaboration, and serve as a driving force for sustained prosperity. The session will address critical topics such as the strategic necessity of accessibility, the pivotal role of leadership in fostering cultural shifts, and tactics to dismantle organizational silos. Neil’s wealth of expertise illuminates the discussion with practical examples showcasing the profound impact of strategically positioning accessibility within enterprises.

Transcript

1. Date: I’ll be wearing a pink carnation. Positioning Accessibility at the Heart of Enterprise Neil Milliken
2. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos A global population of Billions. Is it 1.3 or 1.5 or 1.7? Depends on who you believe. Quoted Spending Power BCG stats It’s more than one in four! 26% of Women in the UK Users of Assistive Tech – 2.5 Billion according to WHO “Lies Damn Lies & Statistics” 2
3. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Boston Consulting Group study on disability in the Workplace Disability in the workplace @ Atos 4-7% Employees with disabilities on company records 25% Report that they have a disability or long-term health condition 3
4. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Captioned Video – Recognized Disability vs Preference? Disability in the workplace @ Atos 4-25% Employees with a disability 85% 1 Videos viewed on Facebook with the sound off. 80% 2 Of viewers are more likely to finish a video with subtitles. 4
5. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Disability prevalence by age group, FYE 2013 to FYE 2023 United Kingdom Statistics 24% of ALL People in the UK were classified as disabled according to UK Government Statistics. Nearly half of people at state pension age. 23% of working age adults. 26% of Women in the UK. 5
6. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Is Modern Work Bad For the Mental Health of PWD? There is a significant outlier in the UK statistics 6 Something’s not right here! Impairment types reported by disabled people, by age group, 2022 to 2023, United Kingdom
7. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Whether it’s improving inclusivity and performance in the workplace, addressing the widest possible customer base or using the challenges people with disabilities face in work and as consumers as a catalyst for innovation. Regardless of which way you cut the statistics, or which figures you use the numbers should be too large for businesses to ignore. But too many still do… Working to improve accessibility improves the bottom line. 7
8. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Why Don’t More Companies Act On The Data? What’s stopping companies from implementing successful accessibility initiatives? • What if we get it wrong? • What if we say the wrong thing? • Will we get sued? • Not sure where to start • Not sure what to do • Not sure what’s effective • Not sure what it’ll cost • Do we have the skills? • Do we have a budget? • Is it really needed? • Am I doing this alone? Uncertainty Doubt Fear 8
9. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Addressing the FUD - Inclusion drivers Things the business needs that benefit from accessibility Accessibility, CSR / ESG and Diversity are distinct programmes and offerings at Atos with a shared purpose: • Social Good and SDGs • Reporting and Compliance • Culture • Employee experience
10. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Atos Accessibility Commitment Valuable 500 Commitment “Our [Disability inclusion and accessibility] programs are aligned with our ESG approach for which we are recognised as a top 50 global leading organisation. Whilst Disability inclusion is clearly a social topic for us, to move from disability confidence to disability competence we require strong business governance, so our program combines the S (Social) and the G (Governance) of ESG.” 10
11. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Treating exclusion like pollution A sustainable approach to Accessibility “Inaccessibility is kinda like pollution” Jim Tobias at Funka Accessibility Days, 2016 Poor accessibility is an externality of the production & planning process - a kind of unnecessary pollution. Externalities are not all bad. Inclusive design creates many positive externalities: the Curb-cut effect. 11
12. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Our Approach: Delivering Full Ecosystem Accessibility Following the decarbonization approach to measure impact on business ecosystems. 12
13. | April 2024 | Accessibility At The Heart Of Enterprise | © Atos Accessibility Atos: Organisation view Group Accessibility (GA) is designed to be lean. Housed in Chief Admin Office (CAO) • GA sets policy & strategy. • GA provides governance, monitoring & reporting. • GA works with other areas of the business to support programmatic work in areas such as HR, Procurement, Marketing & Communications etc. • GA Funds Workplace Adjustments & Programmatic work. Accessibility Practice Housed in Digital Workplace (DWP). • Provides expertise & resources to Group Accessibility & supports all business lines (TS, HCI & DBP). • DWP treat Group Accessibility as a customer - Funding for resources via project code. • Accessibility Practice deliver external services as part of DWP offerings. 13
14. | 14/03/2024 | Accessibility | © Atos - for internal use Atos Accessibility Program At A Glance Delivery For Ourselves & Our Clients Via A Structured Program Accessibility Governance & 3 Key Program Themes With Workstreams - Our Vision - - 3 Scope Approach - Be the recognized leader in our industry for accessible and disability inclusive experiences & services 1. Direct impact from owned or controlled resources products and services 2. Indirect impact from purchased resources products and services 3. Indirect impacts that occur in the value chain including upstream & downstream Delivering Full Ecosystem Accessibility Applying the same structured approach to digital inclusion as we do for decarbonization 1. Quality & Audit 2. Compliance 3. Corporate Data For Reporting 4. Internal Events 5. Employee Relations & Communications 6. HR 7. Internal IT 8. Knowledge & Competence 9. Procurement 10. Portfolio Compliance 11. Workplace Adjustments Internal 1. Brand and Marcoms 2. Events 3. External Relations 4. Professional Bodies 5. Reporting Ecosystem 1. Portfolio 2. Partners & Alliances 3. Client Experience 4. Sales & Presales 5. Global 2 Local/Business Units I. Geographies II. Global Delivery Centres Business
15. Atos is a registered trademark of Atos SE. June 2023. © 2023 Atos. Confidential information owned by Atos, to be used by the recipient only. This document, or any part of it, may not be reproduced, copied, circulated and/or distributed nor quoted without prior written approval from Atos. Thank you! For more information please contact: accessibility@atos.net