[Nationalharbor] FW: New C-Suite Mandate: Accessibility(Wall Street Journal)

Thu Oct 23 01:45:41 UTC 2014

This came from the Wall Street Journal. I  find it interesting, but how true
is it?

Michelle

New C-Suite Mandate: Accessibility

IBM's Frances West Says Demand Is Rising for Easy-to-Use Technology

'We've embedded accessibility into the basic training for new designers,'
says Ms. West. IBM 

By

Lauren Weber

The Wall Street Journal

Oct. 19, 2014 4:46 p.m. ET 

Here's a C-suite role you may never have heard of: chief accessibility
officer.

But as demographic and regulatory developments bring disability issues
squarely into the workplace-and the marketplace-companies will find
themselves paying closer attention, says Frances West, who was appointed CAO
at  <http://quotes.wsj.com/IBM> International Business Machines Corp. in
July.

The 57-year-old Ms. West, who began her career as an engineer at IBM in
1979, is responsible for making sure IBM delivers products and services that
people of all ages and abilities can use. She also guides efforts to make
IBM's own workplace accessible.

She spoke to The Wall Street Journal about this emerging role. Here are
edited excerpts:

Market Sensitivity

WSJ: Why did IBM create this position? 

MS. WEST: One reason is demographics. We see the emergence of the aging
population on one end, and on the other end the millennials. They're very
socially conscious, so the topic of mainstreaming people with different
abilities is very natural for them. 

Second, the U.S. has new regulations for federal contractors [requiring them
to aim for 7% of the workforce being people with disabilities]. And we see
new legislation and policies globally-in Europe, Canada, Australia and
China.

Last, we're a technology company, and the proliferation of mobile is
relevant to disability. It has [changed how we think about] ease of use and
accessibility, and making sure that our technology is adaptive and available
for anyone to use anytime, anyplace.

WSJ: How do you get engineers and designers to accept this mandate? 

MS. WEST: We've embedded accessibility into the basic training for new
designers. It used to be you tested for accessibility after you finished
developing the product. That's too late. It has to be considered from the
start.

WSJ: What does IBM need to do better when it comes to serving customers with
disabilities? 

MS. WEST: The challenge in general is the whole buy-in of accessibility as a
very user-experience-based concept. It's coming at us a lot faster than we
anticipated. The market is creating demand for IBM to respond, so I think
it's really a speed issue. We have all the components to continue our
leadership, but the speed of recognizing the market demand and the speed of
responding to it is the focus here.

ENLARGE 

WSJ: What is slowing it down? 

MS. WEST: There are a lot of competing interests like in any organization.
It isn't so much slowing it down, it's the understanding that the market is
here and now. Sometimes when you do something for a long time, you may not
be as sensitive to what the market is asking for. If we can dial up our
sensitivity meter it will be a great thing because we've done the hard work
and the investment, so really it's just the time to respond. 

WSJ: How is the regulatory landscape changing? 

MS. WEST: The watershed was December 2006, when the United Nations passed
the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. I equate it to the
Kyoto Treaty for the green movement. When that treaty was signed, you saw an
unleashing of creativity and innovation for green businesses. We see a
similar situation happening [in the disability arena].

WSJ: On your first day, you went to Washington to urge the Senate to ratify
the treaty. Why? 

MS. WEST: We're talking about a human-rights issue, and technology is a very
important underpinning of making this principle come alive. If we don't sign
the treaty, we won't have the opportunity to influence the technology
standards that will be established in this area. We want to be at the table.
This isn't the time to shut ourselves off from this global discussion. 

A Reason to Innovate

WSJ: What do companies need to do to make their workplaces more accessible? 

MS. WEST: I think people respond very well to a leader who says that this is
important for the company, not just for the purpose of hiring but it's good
for the business. 

WSJ: "Reasonable accommodation" for people with disabilities often gets
employers in legal trouble. How does IBM think about that? 

MS. WEST: If you leave it to individual managers to accommodate, it can be
very time-consuming and costly. And frankly, it can also be a situation
where it's a disincentive for the manager to hire, especially if they're
overworked and have to spend extra time figuring out how to understand
accessibility.

That's why large companies need to centralize decision support. If you're a
manager in IBM and you want to hire a person with a disability, and there's
a cost associated with it-for example, buying a screen reader-that cost will
come out of a centralized budget. We also created a global app called
Accessible Workplace Connection. Anyone can log on, whether they're a new
hire or a manager trying to procure an accommodation for an employee. It
walks you through the accommodations that are available and how to put them
in place.

WSJ: How does a CAO get the attention of the top leaders? 

MS. WEST: We want to challenge the notion that this is a low-level
compliance play. It isn't an HR or niche initiative. Our experience is, if
you think about it differently, you can view this as a reason for innovation
and then translate that into business differentiation. And that's how we get
to the C-suites and people who influence resources and budgets.

Ms. Weber is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York. She can be
reached at  <mailto:lauren.weber at wsj.com> lauren.weber at wsj.com. 

Thank You,

Michelle Clark

Information Technology Specialist

Section 508 Coordinator

Office of the Chief Information Officer 

USDA / Natural Resources Conservation Service

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E-mail:  <mailto:michelle.clark at wdc.usda.gov> michelle.clark at wdc.usda.gov 

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