Applause：2023年数字质量报告 State of Digital Quality

2023

StateofDigital

Quality

APPLAUSE

Contents

03ExecutiveSummary

04Methodology

05FunctionalTesting

11AccessibilityTesting

17LocalizationTesting

22CustomerJourneyTesting

25PaymentTesting

29Conclusion

APPLAUSE

Executivesummary

Forthesecondyear,Applauseanalyzedarepresentativesampleofourtestingdatatoidentifyandanalyzethemostcommon

flawsindigitalexperiencesandmapouthow

companiescanstopthemfromreachingend

users.Weevaluatedexperiencesacrossmore

than16,000individualmobiledevices,1,000

uniquedesktopsand500OSversionstoassessendlesscombinationsofnetworks,browsers,

paymentinstrumentsandintegrationsworldwide.Weholduniqueinsightintothestateofdigital

qualitybasedonourworkwithcompaniesin

diverseindustriesandregions,fromvarying

technologicalmaturitylevels,whoarecreatingawiderangeofapplicationtypes.

Thisyearweincludedadditionaldataaboutthemostfrequentlytesteddevices,configurationsandpaymentinstrumentsindifferentlocales

andindustries,aswellastheaveragenumberofconfigurationstested.Wealsoshared

observationsonthecorecapabilities,practicesandprocessesinplaceatorganizationsat

differentlevelsofcommitmenttodigitalquality.

Somehighlightsfromthisyear’sreport:

→Digitalqualityisanintersectionaldiscipline.

Functionality,localization,accessibility,

payments,customerexperienceandUX

bleedintooneanother.Assessdifferent

componentsofanappordigitalexperience

holistically,notjustinisolation,totruly

understandcustomerencounterswithyour

brand.WithApplausetestersuncovering

morethan200,000defectslastyear,it’sclearthatdevelopmentorganizationshavealong

waytogointhepursuitofexcellence.

→Applause’s2023accessibilityandinclusive

designsurveyfoundthat43%ofrespondents

ratedaccessibilityasatoppriorityfor

theirorganization.Nearlythreequarters

—72%—reportedthattheircompanyhasadedicatedaccessibilityexpertonstaff.

Productdesignersandengineersarebuildingaccessibilityintoproductsandcodesooner

andmoreoftenthaninthepast.

→Asmorepersonalizedexperiencesbecome

thenorm,organizationsmustassess

functionalityandUXacrossmoredevice

combinations,configurations,workflowsanddimensions.Testmatrices—andapplicationsthemselves—arebecomingmorecomplex

andhardertomanage.

→TrainingandtestingtheAIandmachine

learning(ML)enginesthatsupportgreaterpersonalizationrequiresspecializeddata

andknowledgethatmanybusinessesdon’thave—andstruggletofind.Applause’s

AIandVoicesurveyfoundthat86%of

respondentshaveconcernsaboutbiasin

AIthatcompaniesmustaddresstomaintaincustomers’trustandloyalty.

→Thoughcompaniestakemanydifferent

approachestodigitalqualityandprogress

alongdifferentpaths,we’veobserved

somecommonalitiesthatcorrespondto

differentstagesofcommitmentto—and

developmentof—digitalexcellence.Ratherthanformalmaturitymodels,weoffersomesimpleframeworksthatorganizationsmay

usetobenchmarkthestructure,efficiency,effectivenessandscalabilityoftheirdigitalqualityeffortsacrossvaryingdimensions.

Whilecultures,processesandmaturity

levelsaredynamicandthere’snotalways

cleardemarcationwhereonestageends

andanotherbegins,anhonestlookatthe

statusquocanspotlightwhicheffortswill

deliverthegreatestimpacttodigitalquality.

APPLAUSE

StateofDigitalQuality2023

3

Methodology

Weanalyzedresultsfromarepresentative

sampleofclosedtestcyclesexecutedbetweenJanuary1,2022andDecember31,2022.AtestcycleishowApplausedefineseachuniquesetoftests:aclientsendsustestingparameters—builds,scope,coverage,etc.—andwecreateatestcyclethatincludesthespecifictestcases

andscenariostobetested.

Weanalyzeddataacrossindustries,testing

categoriesandregionsspanningmorethan

200,000bugs,tensofthousandsofdevices,andthousandsofdevice/OS/browsercombinations.

Testingincludedwebsites,apps,IoTdevices,mobilewebandmobileappsinreal-world

scenarios.

Devicecoverage

Thefiguresinthisreportreflecttestsacrossthefollowingscopeworldwide:

MobileDevices

Mobilemakes

167

Mobilemodels

2,296

MobileOSes

21

MobileOSversions

396

Mobilewebbrowsers

36

Mobilecarriers

573

Media

Set-top/streamingdevices

181

Gamingconsoles

35

SmartTVs

2,270

TVproviders

65

ISPs

164

Desktop

Desktopwebbrowsers35

DesktopOSes10

DesktopOSversions202

PaymentMethods

Credit/debitcards

3,224

E-Wallets

48

Mobilewallets

87

Alternatepayments

83

Home

Smarthomedevices

84

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StateofDigitalQuality2023

4

Functionaltesting

Askadeveloper,aQAengineeranduser

whetheranappworksandyoumaygetthree

verydifferentanswers.Ultimately,however,

individualusersdeterminewhethereachapp

workswellenoughforthemtoadoptit.Startingwiththebasics—frommakingsureuserscan

downloadandinstallanapp,throughvalidatingmorecomplexworkflowsandintegrations,

includingAPIs,IoTandBluetoothconnections—organizationsmustensurebasicfunctionalitybeforereleasinganapptocustomers…which

doesn’talwaysbegintoaddressUXconcerns.

Whilefunctionalteststhemselvesareoftennot

difficult,conductingthenumberoftestsrequiredinthenecessarytimeframe,acrossthespectrumofdevicesandOSconfigurationsneeded,posesachallengeformanyQAanddevelopment

teams.Inaddition,teamsoftenprioritizetestingoverdevelopingtestingstrategyordoingthe

routineworkthatmakestestingmoreefficient

andeffectiveinthelongrun.Raiseyourhand

ifyou’veeverputofftestsuitemaintenance,

releasedwhiletestingwasinprogress,pulledinhelpfromotherdepartmentstocompletetesting,orreleasedwithriskbecausetherewasnotime.

Thedataset

Arepresentativesampleoffunctionaltests.

173,725

bugs

38,920

testcycles

70+

industries

153

countries

APPLAUSE

StateofDigitalQuality2023

5

Bugtypedefinitions

BugType

UserExperience

Content

“Thisdoesn’treadright”

Typos,grammaticalissues

Crash

“Theappshutdown”

Appclosesorquitsunexpectedly

Functional(workflowerrors)

“Thisdoesn’tworkright”

Buttonsdon’trespondwhen

clicked,searchesreturnincorrectresults

Lagsandlatency

“Thisistakingtoolong”

Sluggishperformance,freezes

Visual

“Thisdoesn’tlookright”

Misalignedcontentorpage

elements,contentdoesn’tfitanarea

APPLAUSE

Bugtypebreakdown

Seetheprevalenceofeachtypeofbugacrossthedataweanalyzed:

4.8%

17.8%Content4.8%Crash

49%Functional

3.9%Lags&latency24.5%Visual

3.9%

17.8%

24.5%

49%

Thecompositionofbugtypesidentifiedremainsthesameaslastyear.Functional,

visualandcontentdefectscontinuetocompriseover90%ofallbugsfound.While

crashesarethemostcriticalflaw,theycontinuetoplagueappswithnosignofyear-over-yearimprovement.

Forfunctionaltestingdevicecoveragecomparisonsandthemostpopulardevicestested,pleasesee

AppendixA

.

StateofDigitalQuality20236

Howonefintechensuresinnovationandexcellence

AnApplauseglobalfintechcustomerwithaleadingfinancialtradingplatformwas

challengedtomaintainquality,innovationandpersonnelmanagement.Hundredsofappsneededtofunctionseamlesslywithinthehigh-stakesplatform,yetthefirmwasstrugglingtoreleasenewfeatureswhile

maintainingmassiveregressiontestingsuites.Inaddition,alltestershadtobehighlytrainedinfinancialtrading.

ThefintechteamedwithApplauseto

overseecomprehensivedeliveryand

engagementmanagement,recruitinga

highlyskilledteamofover50testersfromover70countrieswithfinancialservices

experiencetoworkacross18engineeringteams.ApplauseownstheQAfunction

atthefintechpartnerandprovidesbest

practicesandguidanceonteststrategies.

Thefintechhaspreventedlostrevenuebyminimizingbugsescapingtoproduction,

hasdeeperinsightintocommonfunctionalissuesandhasaQAteamatthereadythatcanscaleasneeded.

Functionaltesting

framework:corecapabilitiesandpractices

Inourinteractionswithclientsaroundtheglobe,Applauseseesawiderangeofapproachesto

digitalquality.Ournewframeworksdetailthestageswecommonlyobserveascompaniesprogresstodigitalexcellence,complete

withexamplesofthetypesoforganizational

capabilitiesandactivitiesthatcharacterizeeachstage.Whilemostcompaniesandteamsmix

practicesfromdifferentstagesinthefollowingtable,asinglestagetypicallydefinesthe

business’sprevailingapproachtoquality.

Thoughitmayseemlikethere’snoclear

demarcationbetweenlevels,thosewhoareclosesttotheprocesswillatsomepoint

recognizethattheshiftfromonepointtothenexthasoccurred.

Theframeworkcanserveasavaluablestarting

pointforunderstandingyourorganization’s

progressalongitsdigitalqualityjourney

andhowtoleveluptoreapthecompetitiveadvantagesassociatedwithimprovedqualityandusability.

Ifyourorganizationisintheprocessofestablishingorenhancingsystemsto

ensurequality,usethisreportasaguideto

developplansthatcoverthemostcommon

devices,emergingformsofpayment,and

keyconsiderationsaroundaccessibilityand

localization,asthesearetrendsApplausesees

organizationsembraceastheyimprovequalityandUX.

StateofDigitalQuality20237

Functionaltestingframework

Lackofformalsystems,processesanddocumentation—whileindividuals

mayhavetheirownmethodsand

documentation,theorganizationhasnoconsistentmethodologyorapproachtoquality.

Examplesoftypicaltestingactivitiesandprocesses:

→Conductingreactivetestingafterdevelopment

→Runningtestswithoutdocumentingtestcasesortestrunresults;or

documentingpoorly

→Runningtestcasesinconsistently

→Skippingtestcasedocumentationor

writingtestcasesinwaysthatmake themdifficulttofolloworreproduce→Practicingsomeexploratorytesting

anddogfooding

→Usingdisparateenvironmentsfor

development,testingandproduction

Digitalqualityemergence:

Earlystagesofdefiningand

documentingprocessesandprocedures;establishingsomeconsistencyand

structurearoundtestefforts.Teamsmayhavetheirownuniqueprocesses,effortsmaystillbesiloed.

Examplesoftypicaltestingactivitiesandprocesses:

→Documentingtestcasesforfeature-basedtests

→Ensuringtestcasesarewrittenclearly

→Definingadevicecoveragematrix→Maintainingaknownissues/bug

backloglist

→Testingreleasespre-production→Conductingunit,smokeand

regressiontestingformajorapp

componentsorworkflows

→Performingexploratorytestingfor

newfeatures/appchanges

→Recordingtestrunresults

→Automatingfrequentlyexecuted/

rarelychangedtests

qualityessentials:

Digital

Theorganizationhasaclearprocessinplaceandusesabroadrangeoftestingtypes.Somereportingisinplace.

Focusoncoverage,scalabilityandefficiencyacrosstheorganization.

Examplesoftypicaltestingactivitiesandprocesses:

→Maintainingadefineddevice

coveragematrixbasedondataaboutwebsite/appusage

→Conductingregressiontestingforallworkflows

→TestinguseracceptanceandUXfornewfeatures/appchanges

→Leveragingtestautomationfor

repetitivetests;reviewingand

updatingautomationscriptsregularly

→Documentingtestcases/suitesforallfeatures

→MeasuringqualityKPIswithdataandreporting

Digitalqualityexpansion:

Qualityisembeddedinthecompany’sDNAandbuiltintoallproductsand

experiencesfromendtoendwithtestingandfeedbackthroughouttheSDLC.

Examplesoftypicaltestingactivitiesandprocesses:

→TestingthroughouttheSDLC,includingin-sprinttestinginpre-production

→Incorporatingthevoiceofthecustomerintoproductdesign

→DeliveringexceptionalUXand

experiencesacrossalltouchpoints

→Maintainingastrongtestcasemanagementprocess

→Automatingallrepetitiveteststhathumanscan’tdobetter

→Reviewingandrefiningtestingprocessesregularly

→Proactivelybalancingmanual

functional,exploratoryandautomatedtesting;documentingwhentouse

eachtesttype

→Exploringnewtestingprocessesto

boostquality,efficiencyandcoverage

→DrivinginnovationthroughouttheSDLC

→Usingreportstoanalyzetrendsandidentifyareasforimprovement

恩Digitalqualityexcellence:

8

StateofDigitalQuality2023

Functionaltestingrecommendations

Proactivelyexaminehowwellyourtestingpracticesserveyourorganization,andmostimportantly,yourendusersandclients.Totrulyimprove,youneedtounderstandyour

currentstate,whichmaybesiloedorinconsistent

acrossdifferentteams,products,groupsand

evenindividualteammembers.Findwhat’s

workingandreplicatethat—aswellaswhat’snotworkingandneedstobeaddressed.Ifyourorganizationhasachievedexcellence,think

aboutwhatyouneedtodotomaintainthat

positionandhowyoucanserveasanexemplarforotherteamsandbusinesses.

Exceptionalqualitydoesn’tjustrequiretimefortesting;itdemandstimeformanaging

testingstrategyaswellascapturingand

evaluatingdata.Buildintimefordevelopers

andtesterstodocumentprocesses,review

withteams,andregularlyupdatetoensuretheystillworkandthateveryone’sfollowingthose

processes.Organizationsthatdon’tinvestin

thefoundationalelementsofaqualityprogram,includingdocumentingprocesses,managingtestcasesandrecordingtestrunresults,willspend

unnecessarytimebringingnewteammembers

uptospeed,tryingtoestablishwhattestswere

runandhow,andhopelesslybacktrackingtofindwhenandhowadefectslippedthrough,with

nopreventativemeasuresinplacetokeepthebreakdowninsystemsfromrecurring.

Recognizethatachievingexcellencedoesn’tmeantheworkisdone.Ideally,asyourQA

practicesimprove,you’lluncoverproblemsearlierinthedevelopmentcycle,whenthey’reeasier

andlessexpensivetofix,ratherthanwhentheyreachproduction.Ifyou’renotfindingdefects

duringtesting,that’sgreat—butthatdoesn’tmeanyoushouldstoptesting.Itonlytakes

onedefecttoreachproductiontodamagethe

customerexperience,and,dependingonseverity,impactrevenue.Excellenceisaconstantly

movingtargetasnewtechnologiesand

innovationscometomarket.Whileyoumaybe

highlyautomatedandmaturewithsomeapps,tomaintaincompetitiveadvantage,you’lllikelyhavetodevelopnewfeaturesthatyourcustomers

demand.It’scrucialtomaintainyourinvestmentinquality.Theabilitytoquicklyadaptandscaledependsonmaintainingthecapabilitiesyou’vebuilt.Guardthemfiercelytoreduceriskand

maintainyourcompetitiveadvantage.

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StateofDigitalQuality2023

9

Theroleoftestautomation

It’simpossibletoautomateallaspectsofQA.Aneffectivetestautomationstrategy,however,is

acrucialcomponentonthejourneytoDevOps

andexceptionaldigitalquality.Unfortunately,

toomanyorganizationsstruggletoestablish,

maintainandexpandtestautomationtotake

fulladvantageofthismethodoftesting.Whenateamunderstandsthepurpose,objectivesand

limitationsofautomation,it’spossibletodevelopastrategythatscaleseasilyandfreesuphumantestersfortasksautomationsimplycan’thandle.

Teamsthatdedicatethetimeandeffort

necessarytodefiningastrategy,selectingandimplementingtools,anddevelopingalibraryofautomationscriptsgivethemselvesimproved

coverage,aswellasrelieffrommonotony.

Frequentlyruntestswithrepeatablestepsand

anexpectedoutcomeofferthegreatestreturnontheinvestmentinautomation.Teststhatrequire

complicatedsetuparealsostrongcandidates

forautomation,asanerrorsettingupatestcanbecostlyintermsoftestertimeandcancause

releasestoslip.However,automatedteststhat

createfalsepositivesandbreakregularlycauseproblemsforteams,ratherthanreducingburden.

Inaddition,theapproachyourteamtakesto

automation,suchasscriptedtestsversuslow

code/no-codesolutions,influenceswhichtestsarethebestcandidatesforautomation.Choosecarefullybeforeautomating.

Top5teststoautomate

Ourrecommendationsforthetop5

teststoautomatefallintothecategoriesbelowandarefrequentlyrepeatedandeasilyscripted:

5.PerformanceTests

2.RegressionTests

4.IntegrationTests

3.SmokeTests

1.UnitTests

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StateofDigitalQuality2023

10

Accessibilitytesting

TheWorldHealthOrganization’slatestestimateisthatoneinsixpeople,or16%oftheglobal

population,liveswithsomeformofdisability.1

Inaddition,manypeopleexperiencetemporarydisabilitiesduetoinjury,illnessandagingat

somepointintheirlives.Furtherestimates

suggestthatfriendsandfamilyofpersonswithdisabilities(PWD)accountforanapproximate3.3billionpotentialconsumerswhoactbasedontheirconnectiontoPWD.2Leadingglobal

enterprisesacrossallindustrieshaverealizedthatdigitalexperiencesthatpeoplewith

disabilitiescannavigateeasilyoftencreatea

betterUXforalloftheircustomers.Inaddition,someaccessibilityfixes,likeaddressingmissingorunclearlabels,enableautomationengineerstobuildmoreautomationandmovefaster.

It’sclearthatafocusonaccessibilityhelps

everyone,andasorganizationscommittomoreinclusivedesignandbetterdigitalaccessibility,thebargetshigherforbusinesseseverywhere,fromallsectors.Whileinnovationhelpsenableanexpandedtotaladdressablemarket,thefact

1“

Disabilityandhealth.

”WorldHealthOrganization,March7,2023.

2“

2020GlobalEconomicsofDisability.

”ReturnonDisabilityGroup,September1,2020.3“

2022WebsiteAccessibilityLawsuitRecap.

”A,2023.

remainsthatorganizationsmustmeetglobal

accessibilitycomplianceinaccordancewith

nationalaccessibilitylawsaroundtheworld,asnotdoingsocreateslegalexposure.Infact,in2022,intheU.S.alone,therewere2,387webaccessibilitylawsuitsfiled,whichincludesan

increaseof143%incompaniesthatreceivedmultiplelawsuitsyearoveryear.3

Thedataset

Arepresentativesampleofaccessibilitytests.

30,541

bugs

1,273

testcycles

23

industries

17

countries

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StateofDigitalQuality2023

11

BugType

UserExperience

Screenreaders

“Myscreenreaderisn’tworking”

Readabletextforscreenreadersismissing

OtherA11y

“Thisisn’tworkingforme”

PooruserexperienceforPWD

Video

“Ican’ttellwhat’sgoingoninthisvideo”

Missingclosedcaptionsoraudiodescriptions

Zoom

“Ican’tseewhatIneedto”

Textgetscutoffwhenauserzoomsinbeyondacertainpoint

Bugtypedefinitions

BugType

UserExperience

Animation

“Idon’tknowwhat’shappeningonthescreen”

Ausercan’tseecontentthatmoves,suchasanimationtellinguserstoperformanaction

Color

“Thisdoesn’tmakesense”

Userscan’tidentifyinformationcommunicatedonlythroughcolor

Color

contrast

“Thisalllooksthesame”

Insufficientcolorcontrastratio

HTML

validator

“Thispageseemslikesomethingismissing”

IssuesinHTMLcodethatdonotimpactthekeyboardnavigationandscreenreaderbehavior

Keyboardnavigation

“Ican’tusemykeyboardtonavigate”

Peopleusingalternativekeyboardsorspeechinput

devicesaskeyboardemulatorscannotnavigateapage

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StateofDigitalQuality2023

12

Bugtypebreakdown

Seetheprevalenceofeachtypeofbugacrossthedataweanalyzed:

Screenreaders

Colorcontrast

KeyboardnavigationOtherA11y

Zoom

Color

HTMLvalidator

Video

Animation

12.6%9.2%

6.9%2.8%

1.6%I1.5%

.38%

.16%

64.8%

Screenreaderdefectscontinuetomakeupthevastmajorityofallaccessibilityerrors.Bugtypedistributionsremainedconsistent,typicallyfluctuatinglessthan2%+/-fromlastyear.

Foraccessibilitydevicecoveragecomparisonsandthemostpopulardevicestested,pleasesee

AppendixB

.

APPLAUSE

Creatingacultureofinclusivity

Aleadingvideoconferencingsolutionprovider

madeasignificantcommitmenttomakeitsvideo

conferencingapplicationcollaborative,accessible

andinclusiveofallpeoplewithvaryingabilities

andbackgrounds.Itembracedashiftlefttobring

inclusivedesignandinnovationearlierintheSDLC.

ItsfocuswentbeyondsimplymeetingWCAG

standards:Itwantedtostimulateinnovationinits

organizationthatwouldderivefrominvolvingthemostdiversepopulationitcould,emblematicofitsusersaroundtheworld.

Asitdevelopeditsempathy-basedapproach

toinclusivedesign,itralliedteammembersto

becomeambassadorsandhelpspreadtheword

throughouttheorganization.Thecompanygot

managementbuy-in,andasmomentumcontinued,thecompanypartneredwithApplausetoprovide

educationsessionsincludingPWDdemonstratingtheirinteractionswiththeconferencingplatformtobroadenawarenessoftheoverallempathy-basedinclusivedesignprogram.Tokeepupmomentum,itbuiltarepository,anaccessiwiki,thatservesasaresourceemployeescanusetogetawiderangeofinformationaroundaccessibility—fromWCAG

standardsexplainedtointernalinitiatives,inclusivedesignbasicsandmore.

StateofDigitalQuality202313

Accessibilityframework:corecapabilitiesandpractices

Assumesthatmany/mostoftheelementsfrom

thecorrespondingstageofthefunctionaltestingframeworkareinplace.

Whileaccessibilitytypicallystartswith

conformanceandcompliance,onceorganizationsembraceempathy-baseddesignand

development,theuserexperienceimproves

dramatically.Ourcustomerswhohaveadaptedtofocusoninclusivedesignreportthatthis

shiftcreatesacycleofongoinginnovationthatbenefitsallusers,notjustPWD.

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StateofDigitalQuality2023

14

Accessibilitytestingframework

Limitedunderstandingofapplicablelawsandregulatoryrequirements.

Lackofformalsystems,processesanddocumentation,noconsistent

methodologyorapproachtoaccessibilityorinclusivity.

Examplesoftypicalaccessibilitytestingactivitiesandprocesses:

→Identifyingsomeaccessibilityissues;resolvingorremediatinghigh-priorityA11yissuesthatareidentified

→AssessingconformancetoWCAGand/orlocallyapplicableregulationsonceorinfrequently

→Emphasizingriskmitigation;makingchangesinresponsetocustomer

complaintsorthreatsoflegalaction

→Relyingsolelyonautomatedtools

Digitalqualityemergence:

Earlystagesofdefininganddocumentingprocessesandprocedures;establishing

someconsistencyandstructurearoundaccessibility.

Examplesoftypicalaccessibilitytestingactivities,resourcesandprocesses:

→Designatinganownerofthe

accessibilityprogramandidentifyingorganizationalchampions

→Performingperiodicassessments

andautomatedcheckstoensure

conformancetoWCAGandcompliancewithlocallyapplicableregulations

→Offeringtrainingonaccessibilitybestpracticesandinclusivedesign

→Providingdevelopersand/orproductownersaccesstoPWD

→Conductingdesignreviewsandin-sprinttestingtoidentifyproblemsearlierintheSDLC

→EngagingPWDtoperformusabilitytestsandprovidefeedback

qualityessentials:

Digital

Theorganizationhasaclearprocessfor

ensuringaccessibilityinplaceanduses

varioustestingtypes.Somereportingisinplace.Focusoncoverage,scalabilityandefficiencyacrosstheorganization.

Examplesoftypicalaccessibilitytestingactivities,resourcesandprocesses:

→Documentingbestpracticesand

checkingthemduringdevelopment

→Maintainingaknowledgebaseandofferingtrainingonbestpractices

→Holdingempathy-baseddesignanddevelopmentworkshopswithPWD

→IncorporatinginputfromPWDinto

thedesignanddevelopmentprocess;benchmarkingtounderstandthe

validityofcustomercriticismsaround

accessibilityandusability

→Providingattestation(VPATS)

Digitalqualityexpansion:

Theorganizationprioritizesinclusivityatalllevels;testingandfeedbackfromPWDoccurthroughouttheSDLC

Examplesoftypicalaccessibilitytestingactivities,inclusivedesignresourcesandprocesses:

→CreatingaCenterofExcellencewithguidanceondesignanddevelopmentbestpractices

→Requiringongoing,mandatorytrainingonaccessibilitybestpracticesand

inclusivedesign

→Followinginclusivehiringpracticesanddevelopingadiverseworkforce

→Goingbeyondattestationand

demonstratingthoughtleadershipininclusivedesignandproduct

development

→Incorporatingaccessibilityintothecompany’scontractingandprocurementprocess

→Usinganalyticstodriveprioritiesandcontinuousimprovement

恩Digitalqualityexcellence:

15

StateofDigitalQuality2023

Accessibilitytestingrecommendations

Knowwhichlocalandregionallawsgovern

yourbusinessandmakesureyou’rein

compliance.Ithappens:Wemeetwithcustomerswhosimplydon’tknowthatthey’reviolatingthe

law.Evenifyou’relocatedoutsideofEurope,forexample,theEuropeanAccessibilityActwillhavestrictpenaltiesforcompaniesdoingbusiness

intheEUthatfailtocomply.Inaddition,certain

industriesmaybesubjecttoadditionalregulatory

requirements,liketheTwenty-FirstCentury

CommunicationsandVideoAccessibilityActformediaandtelecommunicationsproviders.

Findalliesintheorganizationwhoare

passionateaboutaccessibilitytoserveasambassadorsanddriveawareness;getanexecutivesponsor.Timeandtimeagain,

customersdescribethisscenariototheir

accountteamsatApplause:Onepersoninthe

organizationchampionsaccessibility.Theyseekoutlike-mindedcolleaguesandstartsharing

ideas.Theystartmakingsomechangesthatpayoff.Theygetanexecutivesponsoronboard.

Leadershipstartsunderstandingandembracingthevalueofinclusivedesign.Thegrass-roots,

bottom-upeffortscombinewithtop-down

supportandthen:Awareness.Training.InputfromPWDintothedesignprocess.Empathy.Inclusion.AbetterUXforall.

Prioritizescreenreaders.Websitesmustbe

accessiblydesignedinorderforscreenreaders

toprovidethefullexperienceofthewebpageto