Enterprise hits and misses – UX accessibility matters, Google and Microsoft surprise, and the metaverse gets enterprise scrutiny

Main story – UX accessibility should go beyond developers – but how?

UX accessibility isn’t just a legal obligation, it’s a better strategy for the customer-first world we should live in. The question is: how do you get there? This week, I got the lowdown from an expert: UX accessibility should be more than just developers – Karen Hawkins on how to make digital accessibility a team practice. I also shared some lessons from diginomica’s own digital accessibility pursuits:

• Accessibility is not just a legal obligation – it is a sensibility and a discipline.
• accessibility factors in each digital feature or design decision you make.
• the more accessible your digital assets, the better the UX for everyone.
• the work is never done, and there is always more to be learned – and implemented.

But what does Hawkins advise? His organization ESSENTIAL Accessibility, recommends embedding accessibility throughout design, development, and every stage of the product development lifecycle. An important tip from Hawkins? Accessibility “checkpoints”:

Another thing that is lacking are checkpoints, where we can inject accessibility into software or product development life cycles. We put in place these checks and balances to ensure that for each role, and at each stage of the process, we design and manufacture as much as possible with accessibility in mind.

Going back and re-architecturing for accessibility can be difficult, especially if you’re on a massive web scale. So I asked Hawkins: how can organizations avoid this when launching new digital products/“experiences”? Hawkins:

It is very logical that your key elements are as accessible as possible, these key elements are colors, but also typography, small atoms and molecules, like your buttons and your links and your text boxes – they are used everywhere. There’s the whole concept of atomic design – you build small objects, you put them into larger organisms, and you make those parts into two whole pages.

For those organizations looking for gut checks, there’s no shortage of online resources, expert hire, and testing tools – many of which I linked to from my article. “Compliance” is a limited way to view it. If some of your accessibility projects are really inspiring your team, you’re on the right track.

Diginomica picks – my top stories on diginomica this week

Vendor review, diginomica style. Here are my top three choices from our vendor range:

• Google’s cloud performance is impressive, even though Alphabet – Stuart failed in Google’s mixed report, which the platform redeemed: “What is noticeable is that Google Cloud Platform’s revenue growth is faster than Google Cloud, with infrastructure emerging as the current sweet spot, though one is still far behind Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.“
• ServiceNow exceeds Q1 2022 guidelines as the platform continues to gain traction across the enterprise – Guess who’s in a spiffy mood? Bill McDermott of ServiceNow – Derek explains why.
• Microsoft exceeded Q3 performance expectations built into the clouds – It hasn’t been a special few weeks for tech stocks, but as Stuart reported, Microsoft is clearly an exception: “Nadella said Microsoft is committed to building a distributed computing fabric in the cloud and on the edge to help organizations build, operate, and manage mission-critical workloads anywhere. But it’s too early, he added. “
• Labor Day – exit the Power of One, enter Power to adapt – Anyone looking for a handle on moving direction on Labor Day – and what that means for large enterprise SaaS – look no further than the review by Brian, taken from a recent in-person analyst event. (sidenote: I think Brian is still smarting from me referring to him at “Dr. Frankensoft” on Twitter, though he had a nervous comeback).

Some other vendor options, without quotables:

Jon’s grab bag – Stuart got the grab bag himself this week, along with another love letter to his favorite tech billionaire scorcher in the company formerly known as “a place for friends” Facebook: Meta is getting help on Wall Street despite mixed results – but no one mentions Elon Musk! Plus, we get this nugget: “Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg noted that half of the time users spend on Facebook is now associated with video. ”How exactly that translates into enterprise requires thought, but I don’t think it’s a stat that we should also ignore.

Best on the enterprise web

My top seven

• The Intel CEO said the chip shortage could continue until 2024 – Not a massive unexpected headline at this point, but it will add to the headwinds we should fake.
• Understanding Cloud Renewal Price Protections: You May Not Be as Protected as You Think – Adam Mansfield of UpperEdge keeps this true for cloud customers (again). You may think you’re ready to negotiate your next contract in the cloud, but remember: “The conditions and fine print included often reduce protection. “
• DBMS Market Transformation 2021: Nonrelational DBMS Pureplays – This is the second part of Merv Adrian’s solid DBMS market review. This one looks at beginners: “Not surprisingly, every cloud platform provider has boosted its response to document support, typically JSON capability. “
• The almighty Metaverse – its Rise and Fate – Speaking of a good series, Thomas Wieberneit’s quixotic search for enterprise value in “Metaverse” really fits his posts. One surprising aspect: you can see, from Wieberneit’s Metaverse stack, how much tech vendors can get from these projects – even if they don’t deliver ROI for customers.
• No Ops like ‘NoOps’ revisited: Is the view true? – When I thought I was done with “DevSecOps,” Joe McKendrick filed “NoOps.” Is NoOps hype? Yes, I believe, but give McKendrick credit for a good art-of-possible tone here. This seems like a worthy end goal – at least for some IT processes.
• Is ERP software a security risk? – This part may be basic for some, but given the amount of vulnerabilities in ERP versus the sophistication of today’s threats, it has analysis, from access rights to system complexity to ( on-prem) bugaboo of delayed updates.
• AI models can be racist even if they are trained on fair data – For a piece from the techbait page view factory at The Register, I thought it was pretty fair/balanced – and it contains a link to a basic NIST report on algorithmic bias.

Whiffs

Okay, so this is a cheap shot:

But it feels right, so … Then there’s this person, who doesn’t need any sarcasm:

I usually ignore the views of tech execs on the creative discipline of artistic greatness, but I can’t zip it up this time:

Yes, Spotify unexpectedly relies on Pink Floyd to solve its profitability problems, but musicians who “interact” with fans have nothing to do with making better music. As I wrote in an unpublished piece:

Do you think Pink Floyd would benefit from checking LinkedIn while recording The Wall?

Okay, that’s too easy. See you next time …

If you see a #ensw pieces that qualify for hits and misses – in good or bad ways – let me know in the comments as Clive (almost) always does. Most Enterprise hit and miss articles are selected from my curated @jonerpnewsfeed.

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