Gone are the days when accessibility compliance meant braille writing, ramp/handrails built outside various complexes, or sign language during government announcements. The dawn of digitalization demands your websites and documents to be equally accessible.
The rise of internet usage worldwide accentuated the fact that the disabled population must be given equal access in the digital space as well—and, this is what Section 508 accessibility compliance takes care of. This law ensures that any form of information or electronic technology such as websites, mail, digital documents, etc. must be accessible to everyone, including the ones with special needs.
Putting it simply, it is mandatory to make all electronic documents including DOCX (Word Documents), PDFs (Portable Document Format), PPTX (PowerPoint Document), etc. accessible. Whether or not they are attached to websites or emails, documents need to be disabled-friendly. Hence, 508 document remediation is no longer a choice for businesses but a mandate, irrespective of their scope or size.
Need for the Document Remediation Process
As an organization that fosters cultural inclusivity and diversity, you need to ensure that your documents are built in such a way that assistive technologies can easily interpret them, making the content easily understandable for people with disability. So, the process of converting existing documents into accessible ones is known as document remediation.
However, the document remediation process is easier said than done. There are tags, descriptions, and other things to be added to make the documents AT-friendly. Getting an in-house setup for such ancillary tasks isn’t always a feasible option. It not only involves a tiring recruitment process but also adds to operational expenditures in terms of salaries, infrastructure, technology implementation, etc. Hence, managing it along with core business competencies becomes an uphill activity.
Challenges in Finding the Right Outsourcing Company
There is no dearth of companies in the digital space that claim to offer the best document remediation services or offer tools that help you remediate the documents in-house. The devil is in the details in both cases and not every solution is the same—face-value decisions can be extremely dangerous since the repercussions of unremedied documents can be far-reaching and expensive.
Challenges like logistical issues, strict time constraints, and limited budgets faced by numerous enterprises push service providers to cut corners just to get things done under budget and on time. This results in remediation outcomes that meet the bare-minimum requirements of the business, usually confirmed by automatic tagging and verification tools.
In reality, what tools find as a remediated document is rather a document remediated to meet these tools’ requirements and not the needs of people with disabilities. Simply put, when organizations look for a quick and affordable 508 compliance service, the thing that suffers is quality. As a result, these low-quality services become a minefield in casualties through the form of lawsuits for providing poorly remediated documents.
Leveraging the Right Approach
There are plenty of outsourcing firms that help businesses with the 508 document remediation process. The companies that have already availed of this get more options to negotiate better and get experienced partners at cost-effective rates; however, it gets tricky for first-time businesses trying their luck with accessibility to choose the right provider as they can be easily duped. So, some groundwork needs to be done to make an apt choice. Listed below are the five key points to keep in mind when looking for a document-remediating company:
- Experience
The document remediation process is time-consuming and resource-intensive as there are minute details that must be taken care of. And, there’s no better option than an experienced company that works day-in and day out on such tasks. They are well-acquainted with the nitty-gritty of the remediation projects, whether simple or complex. Having the right blend of skills and experience, they offer the highest possible quality remediation outcomes just in time.
- Turnaround Time Offered
Though there are tools to speed up the tagging process, they have certain limitations. Document remediation is a laborious process that needs a ridiculous level of attention to detail including images, bullet lists, graphs, charts, and other text formatting details. Cutting corners on these details just to offer a faster turnaround time might get you in trouble. So, it is advised to ask for genuine timelines so that the professionals aren’t chasing unrealistic deadlines and offer you quality results.
- Tech Acumen
As hinted already, document remediation is a complicated process to be fully automated. Though automated tagging tools can do a decent job of recognizing text formatting and generating most of the tags, these might get things done wrongly sometimes when used with various styles of writing and formatting, especially with older documents. To avoid this, the service provider needs to have a dedicated QA team to conduct a thorough test to uncover various accessibility gaps in the document.
- Talent Pool
Service providers usually have a team of document remediation professionals hired from around the world. These experts bring to the table their skills, experience, and expertise in different niches. Owing to the fact that no two businesses have the same requirement, it is better to check whether the outsourcing company caters to your niche or not. Accordingly, you can make the smart choice.
- Quality of Past Projects Delivered
Checking the quality of past document remediation projects delivered helps you get a clear picture of the service provider. You not only get an idea about how your project would be handled but also get to know about their internal processes. Accordingly, you can determine whether the professional provider can be a good fit for your business needs.
Conclusion
As evident, document remediation is a complex topic, and businesses will have to read between the lines to evaluate which service provider to go with. After all, failing to comply with Section 508 accessibility compliance can be unaffordable damage to the company’s brand value, apart from the expenses it incurs. Thus, smart organizations leverage the proactive approach and opt for document remediation before a lawsuit knocks on their door.
Collaborating with a service provider for your document remediation process takes you a step closer to achieving the industry standards and conforming to accessibility compliances. But to reap these benefits, you must be mindful of the outsourcing company you partner with.
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