13 September 2006

Creating a website which has high standards of accessibility is important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), an expert at IBM has claimed.

Although many SMEs may believe that improvements and adaptations are more important for larger organisations, companies could be harming their own potential for growth, stated Mark Bagshaw.

Mr Bagshaw has more than 27 years of mainstream technical marketing experience within IBM and is also quadriplegic, the New Zealand Herald reports.

"Businesses are beginning to realise that it makes no sense to exclude [for example] 20 per cent of the population; you ignore this group of people at your peril," he remarks.

The expert was commenting as an initiative has been implemented in New Zealand, where all government websites are monitored to ensure that they provide a high standard of accessibility.

In the UK, both the Disability Discrimination Act and the Cabinet Office's accessibility guidelines are designed to ensure that disabled persons are not excluded by inaccessible websites.

© Adfero Ltd

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