Digital Accessibility Software Is a Crucial Step Toward an Inclusive Customer Experience

June 28, 2025 is the deadline for companies to comply with the European Accessibility Act, the landmark accessibility law that will govern nearly all companies doing business in the European Union, including those headquartered outside the EU. [1]

According to Software Advice’s 2024 Digital Accessibility Survey, only 39% of companies that are affected by the EAA have implemented a plan to meet its requirements on time.* Companies falling short of accessibility requirements not only fail to provide equitable customer experiences, they also miss out on opportunities to convert a sizable audience: the millions of people who have disabilities but still need to use the internet.  

Making improvements to digital accessibility takes time, strategic software investments, and technical bandwidth. It’s important for business leaders to gather IT and design teams and get started now so they can meet accessibility requirements before they face legal action, customer backlash, or other penalties.

New EU regulations require companies to improve digital accessibility

Today, 96% of the world’s most popular internet homepages contain errors that make them harder for people with disabilities to use. [2] The impact is huge, considering that over 1 billion people worldwide are disabled. [3] Digital accessibility initiatives seek to offer everyone equal access to online information and services, including content, financial tools, government services, and shopping.

Digital accessibility is not just for people who need accommodations; it benefits everyone. Many accessibility features are essential to most peoples’ everyday use of the internet, because they make the user experience more comfortable and convenient.

Governments around the world have turned up the pressure on companies to improve digital accessibility with regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, and Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act of 1992. [4] With a final deadline coming up in 2025, the European Accessibility Act is the latest sweeping regulation to incentivize companies to make changes.

As the EAA deadline looms, the outlook on compliance is bleak. Over half (55%) of surveyed companies say improving digital accessibility is a high or urgent priority, and 42% of those under EAA jurisdiction are “very confident” they’ll be compliant with the new law on time. However, only 39% have implemented a plan to do so.

Many companies trading in the EU are behind on digital accessibility

A large portion of companies under EAA jurisdiction are significantly behind on building compliance. Currently, nearly a quarter (24%) of surveyed companies who trade in the EU do not provide any digital accessibility features on their websites, and the majority of this group (74%) say improving digital accessibility is a medium to low priority. Furthermore, nearly a third (32%) of this group say they do not have a formal plan for how they’ll meet EAA requirements by the 2025 deadline.

Even among the 76% of companies trading in the EU who do offer some accessibility features, the majority (56%) rate their websites as somewhat accessible, indicating a need for improvement even among those who have taken action. While most accommodate vision and hearing impairments, a much smaller proportion accommodate mobility impairment, neurodiversity, and learning disabilities.

Improving digital accessibility is important—it’s a legal, ethical, and economic imperative. Most companies are aware of the potential consequences of failing to ensure its website is accessible, including reputational damage, legal action, and loss of customers. Still, obstacles ranging from budget constraints to training needs make compliance an uphill battle.

Improving digital accessibility is challenging and requires strategic planning

Your company still has time to make changes ahead of the EAA’s June 2025 deadline. Here are some steps you can take to get started with digital accessibility.

Be proactive about the top-cited challenges to improving digital accessibility

Overall, respondents around the world said the two greatest challenges to improving digital accessibility are IT and software complexities and a lack of awareness about digital accessibility requirements or needs. 

As it tends to go when you implement any major change, challenges evolve as you move through the process. In this case, companies that do not currently offer accessibility features tend to struggle more with issues around getting started, including dealing with a lack of internal expertise and budget. Companies that already provide some accessibility solutions struggle more with demonstrating return on investment (ROI) and overcoming internal resistance to further improvements.

To address these challenges, your organization’s IT, development, and design teams need to dedicate time to learning about—or brushing up on—digital accessibility. Get up to date on which local laws apply to your company, and test your site to uncover accessibility gaps in your website’s design, even if you already think you have it covered. Then, create or adjust strategies and goals so you can move forward with a better understanding of the scope, time frame, and resource requirements for your strategy. 

There is automated software on the market that can provide a helpful starting point. But thorough, lasting changes may require you to make extensive adjustments to your website’s design, purchase additional software, or contract with third-party services. Keep all of this in mind in the planning phase. 

This is also a good time to make a strategic shift toward considering digital accessibility needs for any new project or software purchase. If you treat accessibility as a fundamental requirement, you’re more likely to act on it early, and less likely to have to go back and apply patch solutions or explore alternate tools when accessibility problems flare up.

Assemble a diverse team of accessibility stakeholders with technical leadership

While increasing digital accessibility should be on everyone’s radar, UX designers and developers are best positioned to take action. After all, they’ll be the ones adjusting the design and development of your company’s website and other online services. 

In our survey, respondents who said IT/software development or design/UX teams were the primary drivers of digital accessibility at their company were significantly more likely to say their website offers features for a diverse set of disabilities, including hearing and vision impairment. 

Companies with IT/software development in charge of accessibility were also significantly more likely to:

• Have seen benefits from increasing accessibility, including increased revenue and customer loyalty, as well as decreased help desk workloads. 

• Rate their company’s website as “very accessible.”

• Use a wider range of software tools to enhance digital accessibility, including testing software. 

• Rate the result of their company’s digital accessibility efforts as “very positive.”

If these teams are not up to date on how to implement accessibility best practices, you’ll need to designate time for upskilling.

Set goals around action, not perfection

Don’t let the idea of perfection stand in the way of making any improvements to digital accessibility. If you’re not sure what to prioritize when getting started, consider The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a commonly accepted set of international guidelines for digital accessibility. The EAA’s requirements for digital accessibility are consistent with the latest version of WCAG (2.1). [5]

The WCAG creators acknowledge that not all content on all sites can conform to Level AAA criteria, and do not recommend AAA conformance as a general policy. [6] Additionally, the EAA only requires up to AA conformance. To get buy-in from internal stakeholders, companies should pursue A or AA WCAG compliance. Even basic accessibility improvements make a big difference in site experience for those who need them.

Don’t rely solely on automated tools to enhance accessibility

Automated accessibility tools, such as testing or scanning software and overlay tools, can quickly identify and temporarily remedy accessibility issues on your website. With the increased regulatory attention dedicated to digital accessibility, analysts expect AI-powered accessibility testing tools in particular to improve dramatically in the near term. [7] However, automation shouldn’t be the only path companies pursue in improving accessibility.

One reason boils down to AI’s limited ability to handle nuance. While AI tools may become very good at detecting potential issues, humans will always be better at deciding which are relevant to the browsing experience of disabled people. 

For example, images on webpages that meaningfully contribute to a user’s understanding of the content, such as data visualizations or journalistic photography, should contain textual explainers or descriptions, known as alt text. Someone using a screen reader may not be able to see the images, but detailed alt text allows them to consume the information the images convey.

On the other hand, decorative or redundant images don't always provide relevant or new information—think stock images in a training module, for instance. Including alt text for such images might annoy anyone using a screen reader and make them less likely to engage with the website. Automated tools may not reliably determine which images are helpful versus annoying, resulting in auditory clutter for screen reader users. 

Another problem is that an automated patch solution such as an overlay tool cannot solve existing issues in a website’s source code—in fact, it sometimes exacerbates them. For instance, an overlay can’t magically make poorly labeled URLs clearer. And while some overlays contain generative AI features to solve for missing alt text, AI-generated suggestions are not always accurate or helpful, leading to more confusion. 

Applying an overlay may give companies a false sense of confidence that they’ve fixed accessibility issues, when in reality the experience for disabled users may be worse than before.

For now, the only way to truly know if your website is accessible to humans is through manual testing and human-led source code intervention. You should think of improving accessibility as a nuanced process that requires humans to both identify and treat issues—or better yet, prevent issues from occurring by encouraging designers and developers to integrate accessibility in the concept phase.

Take the first step in building digital inclusivity

Spending the time to investigate and treat your company’s digital accessibility issues is an investment in a future in which inclusivity is increasingly required by law. It’s also an opportunity to become the trusted brand of customers who require accommodations in order to browse and shop online. 

Get started by browsing Software Advice’s list of top digital accessibility software. You’ll find tools with features for compliance tracking, analytics, mobile testing, and more. For personalized help selecting the right software, you can speak with one of our advisors about your company’s unique needs.