Transcript: Dan Sullivan Makes the Business Case for Implementing Accessible Technology

PEAT asked Dan Sullivan of Audio Eye: If you were riding in an elevator with a Fortune 500 CEO, what’s your pitch for why implementing accessible technology matters?

>> I think one of the biggest misconceptions oftentimes among senior executives is that a very very small portion of a population can gain any benefit from technology that’s made accessible and you know when you take a look at the world’s population, even if the US population is a much larger percentage of the population, that are impaired in one way, shape, or form from being able fully consume digital concept and you know some some estimates make that up to 12 to 15 percent of the population. There’s no business in their right mind that would do anything that would impede or impair you know 12 to 15 percent of the population for being able to do business with them. So I think that when you think about accessible technology and usability and universal design and making infrastructure easier to use you really need to think beyond that very limited, narrow perspective of what you have a lot of accessible technology is and what portion of the population would benefit from that. So you know companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to increase their market share one percent. If you think about being able to deliver accessible technology, accessible infrastructures and how that ultimately can impact brand loyalty and the ability for people to interact with your organization. Sometimes it can be the least expensive way to make a significant impact to the brand of your company.