- ServiceNow has launched a program to make its products more accessible to people with disabilities.
- Eamon McErlean, who previously worked on accessibility at Apple and Nike, will lead the effort.
- McErlean said his approach will begin with raising awareness about accessibility.
While he leads the way in accessibility for Apple retail stores, it’s the adaptive customers that Eamon McErlean learned from the majority. He mentioned the creative ways they troubleshoot to access products, and he gathered feedback to build accessibility itself-so that such efforts would no longer be necessary.
“When you see it from a really practical perspective, it really opens up your level of empathy and understanding and awareness,” McErlean told Insider. “That really started with my whole vision and desire to work closely with the world of accessibility.”
McErlean continued to lead Nike’s accessibility efforts, initiating digital-accessibility efforts in retail stores, online, and in the mobile app. Today, he brings that experience to $ 105 billion cloud-software company ServiceNow, where he helps launch a department called the Center of Excellence for Accessibility, focused on making the company’s products easier to access. access by people with disabilities.
McErlean told Insider that he guides the effort at ServiceNow – which has customers like Deloitte and Wayfair – based on the feeling that creating awareness will drive empathy, action, and, ultimately, positive change.
He said the company will have employee accessibility trainings, similar to workplace lessons that have become the norm. The trainings will be specific to departmental areas and demonstrate how employees from engineering to customer support can prioritize accessibility to their roles, he added.
Accessibility has become commonplace in software today and includes adaptive options such as closed captioning on videos and a screen reader that translates text into spoken word or braille.
McErlean will not share details about what accessibility changes will be made to ServiceNow products but he mentioned plans to have engineers work directly with adaptive users to improve their awareness of what accommodations are what people need. This includes having adaptive users try and evaluate upcoming features and functionality. Additionally, the company will develop metrics and analytics to measure accessibility.
“We really want to treat accessibility as a product for all intents and purposes,” McErlean said.