Acquia’s Chief Market Officer and Director of Product Design talks about building more accessible digital experiences

In an interview with me late last month, Jennifer Griffin Smith spoke in glowing terms about her company, Acquia, where she is chief market officer. She explained that Acquia is a “digital experience technology provider” whose mission is to help businesses build “frictionless digital experiences that enable them to serve their communities.” Smith said that in her approach, she considers accessibility to be the foundation of everything she does at Acquia.

A quick look at Acquia’s website reveals that the company’s so-called solutions include content management, customer data management, and even AI experiences. Smith explained that Acquia’s heritage comes from being an open source company, creating an environment where “everyone is equal and everyone contributes.” Smith spoke about his Acquia values, saying the company believes in protecting customer data and being truly open to technology is of paramount importance. In connection with our conversation and this column, Smith also emphasized that accessibility and inclusivity are important pillars at Acquia. Smith recalled recently reading that only 6% of digital experiences are accessible to people with disabilities. She told me that was unacceptable in her Acquia eyes and that the company was determined to change as much as possible.

“Inclusion for us is everything from location to disability to age inclusivity. [and] Gender inclusivity,” Smith said of Acquia’s inclusivity philosophy. “We believe that everyone should be on an equal footing and that everyone should have the same access when building digital experiences, many of which have occurred during the pandemic. It didn’t matter where you were because all of a sudden everyone had to do things online. They had to get their education online, they got their medical care online, they shopped online. Location is no longer important because we no longer need to be in a specific place. We are thinking about being anywhere, no matter who you are, no matter what your needs are. , that they should be able to consume content.”

As a way to put Acquia’s philosophy into practice, Mary Brabohm said in a simultaneous interview with Smith that she and her colleagues “spend a lot of time driving a consistent experience for our users.” Deliver a fair, consistent, and easy-to-use experience. ” Blabaum is Acquia’s director of product design, and spends most of his days working with people at the company (such as Apple CEO Tim Cook) to make Acquia’s products as accessible as possible. is famously called a cross-cutting effort). Blabaum echoed at a high level the sentiment of “accessible design” that has long been cherished by accessibility engineers around the world. teeth good design. They are inseparable.

“When I frame inclusive design, I often talk about it being a convergence between accessibility and usability,” Blabaum said of his philosophy. “If you think about everything we create at Acquia, you get an experience that you can use, but it’s not accessible. It is necessary to consider a comprehensive perspective. [how] We want to promote equal digital freedom for everyone who consumes and disseminates our products and services. ”

Blabaum said accessibility is often an afterthought. He said Acquia is mindful that its customers have “various fidelity,” so for example, everyone uses a standard keyboard and mouse to operate a computer. He said that it is necessary to consider that this is not the case. Mr. Blabaum says that his ideals are intentionally[baked] We work consistently from design to testing. (This is a concept that Mike Paciello, AudioEye’s new chief accessibility officer, proposed to me earlier this week.)

Smith agreed with her colleagues. “When we look at our customers, we may have users who may be hearing impaired or visually impaired and need to be accommodated,” she said. “Some websites, such as music-only videos, are inaccessible to people with hearing impairments. They need other means of communication, so we make content accessible to people with hearing and vision impairments. We talk to our customers about how to build content: What does it look like? What does the captioning look like? What does the combination of audio and captioning look like?”

Smith emphasized the importance of accessibility for Acquia, saying it is part of the company’s strategy. She called these “key goals” and said everything Acquia does is customer-centric. Accessibility is considered for products that are currently shipping further down the proverbial roadmap and are partially driven by customer feedback. When she was asked about feedback, Smith simply replied, “We have a high retention rate,” so people seem happy.

When asked about Acquia’s future prospects, Mr. Smith and Mr. Blabaum expressed excitement and optimism about the company’s prospects. Blabaum said he hopes Acquia will “set an example for other digital companies” by ensuring people succeed with the most accessible and comprehensive experience possible. She likens Acquia’s potential impact to an “outward ring effect” where the company initiates a change and helps that change resonate widely, encouraging other companies to follow suit. I did. As for Mr. Smith, he told me that he joined Acquia primarily because he felt the company was bringing real benefit to the world in a niche field. According to her, her most important goal has always been “[allow] Our customers will be able to better serve their audiences. ”

“We really want to follow our vision of being the most open. [and] We are a secure digital experience provider,” Smith said. “We have to deliver that to our customers. We’re focused on that every day.”

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