April 26, 2012, Toronto, ON - Crawford Technologies has published a controversial new white paper that challenges what some of their competitors are claiming. Several companies have issued misleading documents/articles over the past year leading readers to believe that Accessible PDFs are all that is required to be compliant with legislation that requires companies to accommodate the needs of visually-impaired customers.
"To think that implementing Accessible PDF is the be-all and end-all' is misleading and puts companies at risk for lawsuits. Accessible PDF is definitely not a blanket solution for all because not every customer is up-to-date with technology and able to fully utilize Accessible PDFs," said Aimée Ubbink, Document Accessibility Services Technical Support Specialist with Crawford Technologies.
"One needs to give consideration to those who may not be proficient with modern technology and not able to use an Accessible PDF. For these people, Braille, Large Print or CD audio recordings are their preferred method of communication. It's the organization's legal obligation to provide communication in the format requested by visually-impaired customers."
A number of human-rights lawsuits have taken place in the past few years by companies that have not provided communications to their customers in the manner they requested. This has resulted in multi-million dollar lawsuits for corporations and organizations that simply might not have been aware of legislation in place to protect people with disabilities. These lawsuits have generally resulted in orders for creation of accessible documents to be provided in the formats desired by the document recipients including Braille, Large Print, e-text and audio.
"Our reason for issuing this white paper is to challenge the misleading information out there and make sure people are educated about the laws protecting visually-impaired customers. Having this information will help organizations develop strategies that will provide accessible documents in order to meet their entire customer's need," said Ernie Crawford, President of Crawford Technologies.
"Our Document Accessibility Services (DAS) team specializes in guiding organizations through this complicated process. Not only do we educate you, we help you provide the full range of customer communication accessibility solutions to meet all of your customers' needs."
To read the new white paper, please go to: http://www2.crawfordtech.com/e/7102/h70A1/85wkq/154809091
For more information about how Crawford Technologies can help to ensure your organization is fully compliant with all North American legislation, please phone 1-866-679-0664 or email sales@crawfordtech.com.
About Crawford Technologies
Since 1995, Crawford Technologies' award-winning solutions have helped over 700 companies around the world reduce costs associated with communications' processes by delivering bills, statements and other mission-critical transactional communications to their customers in the format they need, when they need it. This includes alternate format documents in Braille, Large Print, Audio and E-text for visually impaired and print-disabled customers.
With CrawfordTech's range of unique software products and services, our clients simplify, automate and extend document delivery cost effectively - irrespective of current, legacy or future standards in infrastructure or document output. These clients, including four of the top five US banks, four of the top five US insurance companies and four of the world's top five car manufacturers, are realizing high-value results as costs associated with document processes are minimized through automation, new opportunities for savings across critical communications are realized and they react quickly to changes in regulations, policies, business requirements and technical infrastructure.
CrawfordTech's quality software, expert support and transactional document business knowledge help clients to meet operational, service, marketing, legal and compliance requirements and automate the delivery of billions of communications to their customers annually. Simply put, companies look to Crawford Technologies for a platform-independent approach, leading system performance and superior output fidelity. Please visit www.crawfordtech.com to find out more about CrawfordTech's clients, people, partners and solutions.
"To think that implementing Accessible PDF is the be-all and end-all' is misleading and puts companies at risk for lawsuits. Accessible PDF is definitely not a blanket solution for all because not every customer is up-to-date with technology and able to fully utilize Accessible PDFs," said Aimée Ubbink, Document Accessibility Services Technical Support Specialist with Crawford Technologies.
"One needs to give consideration to those who may not be proficient with modern technology and not able to use an Accessible PDF. For these people, Braille, Large Print or CD audio recordings are their preferred method of communication. It's the organization's legal obligation to provide communication in the format requested by visually-impaired customers."
A number of human-rights lawsuits have taken place in the past few years by companies that have not provided communications to their customers in the manner they requested. This has resulted in multi-million dollar lawsuits for corporations and organizations that simply might not have been aware of legislation in place to protect people with disabilities. These lawsuits have generally resulted in orders for creation of accessible documents to be provided in the formats desired by the document recipients including Braille, Large Print, e-text and audio.
"Our reason for issuing this white paper is to challenge the misleading information out there and make sure people are educated about the laws protecting visually-impaired customers. Having this information will help organizations develop strategies that will provide accessible documents in order to meet their entire customer's need," said Ernie Crawford, President of Crawford Technologies.
"Our Document Accessibility Services (DAS) team specializes in guiding organizations through this complicated process. Not only do we educate you, we help you provide the full range of customer communication accessibility solutions to meet all of your customers' needs."
To read the new white paper, please go to: http://www2.crawfordtech.com/e/7102/h70A1/85wkq/154809091
For more information about how Crawford Technologies can help to ensure your organization is fully compliant with all North American legislation, please phone 1-866-679-0664 or email sales@crawfordtech.com.
About Crawford Technologies
Since 1995, Crawford Technologies' award-winning solutions have helped over 700 companies around the world reduce costs associated with communications' processes by delivering bills, statements and other mission-critical transactional communications to their customers in the format they need, when they need it. This includes alternate format documents in Braille, Large Print, Audio and E-text for visually impaired and print-disabled customers.
With CrawfordTech's range of unique software products and services, our clients simplify, automate and extend document delivery cost effectively - irrespective of current, legacy or future standards in infrastructure or document output. These clients, including four of the top five US banks, four of the top five US insurance companies and four of the world's top five car manufacturers, are realizing high-value results as costs associated with document processes are minimized through automation, new opportunities for savings across critical communications are realized and they react quickly to changes in regulations, policies, business requirements and technical infrastructure.
CrawfordTech's quality software, expert support and transactional document business knowledge help clients to meet operational, service, marketing, legal and compliance requirements and automate the delivery of billions of communications to their customers annually. Simply put, companies look to Crawford Technologies for a platform-independent approach, leading system performance and superior output fidelity. Please visit www.crawfordtech.com to find out more about CrawfordTech's clients, people, partners and solutions.
