Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are missing out on the chance to make up ground on larger organisations by improving web accessibility, according to an information technology expert.

Julie Howell, director of accessibility at web design company Fortune Cookie, said that larger businesses understand the importance of internet accessibility, particularly when it comes to giving disabled people more access to the web, but that SMEs are lagging behind.

"There are far more smaller businesses than big ones and disabled people as a group tend to have very good relationships with their local, smaller businesses," she added.

"People report much better experiences – smaller businesses put much more time and attention into building relationships with their customers and disabled people tend to be very loyal when they find a service that they have had a good experience with."

Ms Howell went on to say she feels that SMEs do not adequately understand this message and are missing a chance to "steal the lead" from bigger companies.

According to the Publicly Available Specification 78 Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites, accessibility is defined as "the ability of people with disabilities to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with websites".




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