From Audit to Action:
Powering Accessibility at Scale
Digital Accessibility Solutions Case Study | Technology Industry
Overview
Onward Accessibility empowered one of the world’s largest engineering and technology manufacturers to build accessibility into their digital products, systems and processes.
The Challenge
Building accessibility into complexity.
From mobility solutions to smart home appliances, our global manufacturer client creates products and technologies that touch nearly every part of daily life. Their digital presence is equally broad — spanning multiple brands, customer types, and regions. The enterprise has 400+ subsidiaries, each with its own content, design systems, and compliance requirements.
While the organization has always been committed to inclusion, it isn’t easy for any enterprise to achieve accessibility at scale. Their thousands of digital assets range from public eCommerce pages to password-protected B2B portals and email templates that could not be scanned with automated tools. To comply with the newly enforceable European Accessibility Act (EAA), the company required scalable support.
More than interpreting requirements and identifying barriers, they sought guidance on how to get started, fix issues efficiently, and integrate accessibility into their everyday workflows. Across divisions, they needed a partner that could go beyond audits to advise, train, test, and flex with evolving objectives.
The Solution
Flexible model. Embedded excellence.
To meet the expansive needs of our client, we embedded our digital accessibility specialists within their UX team through our Accessibility-as-a-Service subscription model. This allowed them to access a wide range of services on a flexible, ongoing basis. In addition to auditing digital assets, design templates and marketing email systems, we tested 60 webpages in 3 different languages — and supported remediation efforts. This involved roughly 4,000 automated scans and extensive manual testing by users with disabilities.
Our work uncovered thousands of accessibility barriers, with the client resolving 6,000+ violations, including 1,000+ critical issues. Prioritizing high-impact fixes, we empowered them to remediate hundreds of these errors at once. Our findings also helped their digital leaders gain buy-in for essential remediation work, and our partnership expanded as we supported multiple divisions with different solutions.
As our client’s UX priorities changed, our Accessibility-as-a-Service model allowed them the flexibility to shift focus — from audits to consulting, from website work to remediation support, and from testing to training. Beyond live sessions, we created recordings our client could share across departments, helping their team build the skills necessary to sustain progress. As accessibility is a process, not a project — we continue to work toward WCAG 2.2 AA conformance and EAA compliance at scale.
No one has ever integrated into our teams so seamlessly.
Senior Global Project Lead, eCommerce and Digital Sales
Onward Accessibility Client
By The Numbers
Relevant achievements and statistics to date:
7
Digital Accessibility Experts Embedded
60
Webpages Audited
~4,000
Automated Scans
100+
Employees Received Access to Recorded Training
By The Capabilities
Accessibility solutions that we delivered:
-
Digital Accessibility Auditing
-
Remediation Planning
-
Training & Process Improvement
-
Strategic Consulting & EAA Preparation
-
Accessibility Project Management
-
Testing by People with Disabilities
-
Inclusive Design Research Support
-
Design Template & Email Systems Assessment
-
Monitoring & Maintenance
Flexible Options for Your Journey
Digital accessibility is complex, but getting started doesn’t have to be.
