Providers of digital products should have a VPAT for their product.
And a VPAT maybe- it’s a term commonly used you may also hear of an ACR or Accessibility Conformance Report when but when people speak to V Pats in the private marketplace they’re referring to really a document that accounts for accessibility and if you have a product or a service you should have a VPAT.
And even if you don’t care about accessibility, the advantage to your business is tremendous because I can tell you that procurement agents, buyers we are looking for these in the marketplace.
Even end product users are looking for these in the marketplace. I am someone who looks for products consistently with accessibility considerations.
And the one upsmanship on your competition is- it’s just it’s so- it’s such an advantage, you can charge so much more and people will pay for it because they need to have accessibility incorporated into their digital assets.
So when we’re buying products, whether they be applications, software, integrations, widgets- whatever it is we need accessibility to be provided for out-of-the-box.
And when you have a VPAT or an ACR, when you have an accessibility statement that is detailed it sells the product.
For me as long as the product does what it says it does and you have accessibility that’s going to- I’m going to choose your product every time.
And right now in the marketplace that’s missing.
And so- if this this video is an alarmist video for product providers because if you’re listening to this, this is- this is free money.
This is a way to differentiate yourself in the marketplace and have a tremendous, a tremendous advantage on your on your competition because they- they will be left behind.
And it’s going it’s probably going to take them weeks, if not months to catch up and by that time you’ve already got your accessibility statement, you’ve already addressed accessibility, you have at least one document that speaks to accessibility.
And when you do that you’re going to become entrenched in searches when people are searching for accessibility and products like yours.
And I’ll give you an example I was looking for learning management system and I was just looking over and over again for LMS plus WCAG. LMS plus accessibility and looking for these terms over and over again.
And anybody that was had a product that delivered and then also included that, I was going- I was willing to pay easily pay a premium for that because I need to have accessibility in everything I do.
And so if you are a product provider, incorporate accessibility and do it the right way and do it and be detailed in it.
So when I see accessibility statements with- as the marketplace advances, what’s becoming clear to me is the ones that are more basic they’re still trying to figure this out the ones that are more detailed they already have a better handle on what’s going on.
Even if it’s not perfect they’re more advanced and they’re they’re further along and it gives them more credibility and it- it’s something where I definitely take that into consideration when making a purchase.
And so if you have gone to the extent of having a VPAT or an ACR created and you’ve- you’ve hired an accessibility provider to create that VPAT.
Now if you create it in house that’s a different story, but if you’ve hired a an independent third party reputable company to create that vpat for you, that’s- that’s such that is exactly what buyers are looking for.
And I’m not just talking about you know single end users I’m talking about large organizations governmental agencies, everyone is looking for VPATs or ACRs, or accessibility, or WCAG conformance.
So it’s a tremendous advantage and I guarantee you especially as the marketplace matures and more and more people are looking for accessibility it is a way to dramatically significantly increase your sales.
