Apac
  • Home
  • CXO Insights
  • CIO Views
  • News
  • Conferences
  • Newsletter
  • Whitepapers
  • About us
Apac
  • Admired Tech

    Agile

    AI Healthcare

    Artificial Intelligence

    Augmented Reality

    Aviation

    Big Data

    Blockchain

    Cloud

    Cryptocurrency

    Cyber Security

    DevOps

    Digital Transformation

    Drone

    HPC

    Infrared

    Internet of Things

    IT Services

    Marine Tech

    Networking

    PropTech

    Remote Work

    Robotics

    Scheduling Software

    Sensor Tech

    Simulation

    Smart City

    Software Testing

    Startup

    Storage

    Unified Communication

    Web Development

    Wireless

  • Automotive

    Banking

    Capital Market

    Construction

    E-Commerce

    Education

    FinTech

    Food and Beverages

    Gov and Public

    Healthcare

    Insurance

    Legal

    Logistics

    Manufacturing

    Media and Entertainment

    Metals and Mining

    Pharma and Life Science

    Retail

    Sports

    Travel and Hospitality

  • CISCO

    Google

    IBM

    Microsoft

    Oracle

    Salesforce

    SAP

    ServiceNow

  • Business Intelligence

    CEM

    Cloud-based Planning

    Cognitive

    Collaboration

    Compliance

    Contact Center

    Contact Tracing

    Contactless Payments

    Corporate Finance

    CRM

    Custom Software Development

    Data Center

    Digital Signage

    Enterprise Architecture

    Enterprise Asset Management

    Enterprise Communications

    Enterprise Contract Management

    Enterprise Performance Management

    ERP

    Facility Management

    Field Service

    Fleet Management

    Gamification

    HR Technology

    IT Infrastructure

    IT Service Management

    Managed Services

    PLM

    Procurement

    Product Management

    Project Management

    RegTech

    Revenue Management

    Sales Tech

Menu
    • Business Intelligence
    • CISCO
    • Collaboration
    • Compliance
    • Contact Center
    • Healthcare
    • IT Service Management
    • Microsoft
    • Retail
    • MORE
    #

    Apac CIO Outlook Weekly Brief

    ×

    Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Apac CIO Outlook

    Subscribe

    loading

    THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING

    • Home
    • Business Intelligence
    Editor's Pick (1 - 4 of 8)
    left
    BI & Analytics in Aquaculture

    Matthew Leary, CIO, Tassal Operations

    BI and Analytics

    Gary Peel, CIO, SYNERGY (ASX:IS3)

    Need and Challenges of Business Intelligence for Small and Medium Enterprises

    Ashok Jade, CIO, Shalimar Paints

    Managing a Major System Change to Reap Organizational and Business Rewards that Extend beyond Technology

    Christopher Dowler, CIO, IAT Insurance Group

    Customer Data Driving Success

    David L. Stevens, CIO, Maricopa County

    Advantages of Cloud Computing for Data Analytics

    Colin Boyd, VP & CIO, Joy Global

    Is Deep Learning Overhyped?

    Ofir Shalev, CTO/CIO, CXA Group

    Technology Trends that will Shape BI in 2017

    Ramesh Munamarty, Group CIO, International SOS

    right

    Accessibility - An Investment in Innovation

    By Ron Hooton, and Chief Executive Officer,

    Tweet
    content-image

    Ron Hooton,

    There are two new priorities that CIOs must consider when making investment decisions.  Disruptive technologies are everywhere, but how many organisations really understand how to develop systems that are truly innovative and accessible to clients and employees who have a disability?

    Firstly, let’s examine why it is crucial that IT systems need to be accessible to people with disabilities.

    The numbers vary across the western world, but the reality is stark: the unemployment and under employment rates for people with disabilities are much higher than for the general population.

    In my area of focus, up to 60 per cent of people who are blind or have low vision are either unemployed or underemployed. Employment rates for people with disabilities are low –less than 3 per cent in many workplaces.

    These are shameful statistics and as a society, we are the poorer for them.Ensuring that our physical and electronic infrastructure is fully accessible will help break down these barriers to employment – and open the way for all would-be consumers to buy your products and services.

    We all understand accessible toilets and wheelchair ramps.  The need for accessible information systems is equally compelling.

    Vision Australia has more than 100 staff who are blind or have low vision (15 per cent of our workforce). I can assure you that accessible systems allow our vision impaired employees to be as productive as the fully sighted workforce.

    Equal opportunity for employment is a fundamental human right. Yet too many organisations systematically deny employment opportunities to people with disabilities by investing in technologies that are inaccessible.

    So what can be done? 

    Vision Australia’s enterprise architecture principles state that all our systems will be accessible for people who are blind or have low vision. 

    By having this requirement, we remove a barrier to employment.

    This requirement also sends a message to the vendor community to make their systems accessible. 

    Change will only happen if enough customers make a stand. Only then will enough suppliers respond by making their systems accessible to all.

    So, here is the call to action: Do the decent thing, ensure your websites are fully accessible and only buy systems that are equally accessible.

    Driving innovation in systems

    Procuring new business systems seem to be getting easier. Products such as Salesforce come with seemingly infinite capability, limitless flexibility and seamless integration.

    While limiting your selection to only accessible systems does reduce choice, any additional cost is worth it, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it will broaden your potential staff and customer pool.

    What’s more, organisations should regularly ask themselves if they have the right people to take advantage of the immense capabilities of packaged systems. In a world where new competitors emerge rapidly,often with disruptive business models, no-one can rest easy.

    Established businesses need to be as innovative as start-ups and this is likely to come from creative exploitation of information and communications technologies.

    It seems doubtful that Uber sat down and thought let’s use a waterfall methodology to develop disruptive applications. It seems more plausible that a really creative person, thinking about disruptive technologies had a great idea. From there, perhaps a lean start-up model was used to build a limited function application for real market testing, failure, learning, more market testing and so on.

    So how does an established enterprise emulate our emerging competitors, match the creativity and innovation? I don’t have a proven answer to this question, but I do know that it doesn’t lie in asking the same people who have done the job for years to design tomorrow’s systems. But here are some principles I apply:

    1. Diversity of thinking.  For inspiration, I often look to Blair and Liam, twin twenty-one year old digital natives who were early adopters of Xbox Live. From an early age, they collaborated with hundreds of thousands of other gamers to on Halo, not knowing who they were working with, rarely if ever working with the same team.  How many twenty-one year olds digital natives do you have in your team?
    2. Are clients and potential clients directly and influentially involved? Clients have a big role to play in the innovative design of public facing systems.
    3. Am I leaving the best to last, maybe? The ICT professionals. The mantra once was that ICT projects were business-led, IT delivered. Not anymore! ICT professionals have a vital role to play, alongside their business colleagues, in describing the art of the possible. 

    Whether you are in business, or like me, in the not for profit space, we all need to be inquisitive, creative and forward thinking in helping organisations imagine a different future.  It isn’t just about infrastructure anymore. What I am looking for is innovation from my people - the CIO and the ICT team.

    There are plenty of competitors to CIOs at the “top table”. Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Operating Officers and line of business executives increasingly have great knowledge of and vision for exploiting technology. By driving innovation in systems development and focusing attention on making systems accessible to everyone, irrespective of any disability they may have, CIOs can take the opportunity to demonstrate leadership in two areas vital to the future of modern businesses.

    Weekly Brief

    loading
    Top 10 BI and Analytics Consulting/Service Companies - 2020

    Featured Vendors

    Approach Solutions

    Sandy Eastman, Founder & CEO

    Actify

    Chris Jones, CEO & President

    ON THE DECK

    Business Intelligence 2020

    Top Vendors

    Business Intelligence 2019

    Top Vendors

    Previous Next

    I agree We use cookies on this website to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to set cookies. More info

    Read Also

    Priority 2021: Achieving 100% Automation in Finance

    Priority 2021: Achieving 100% Automation in Finance

    Ekaterina Sejourne, CFO, Puma Energy Asia Pacific Pierre Costa, Global CIO, Puma Energy
    Tech Tonic: How technology is helping the travel sector recover from the impact of Covid-19

    Tech Tonic: How technology is helping the travel sector recover from the impact of Covid-19

    Patrice Simon, CTO Data and Analytics, CWT
    Pinpointing Weak Links in an Enterprise Security Chain: Helping Companies Battle Data and Content Security Challenges

    Pinpointing Weak Links in an Enterprise Security Chain: Helping Companies Battle Data and Content Security Challenges

    Hiro Imamura, SVP and GM, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A. [NYSE:CAJ]
    Evolving Customer Relationship Management: Move Fast or Die Trying

    Evolving Customer Relationship Management: Move Fast or Die Trying

    Ed Ariel, Vice President of Service Operations, ezCater
    Importance of Customer Relationship Management Implementation

    Importance of Customer Relationship Management Implementation

    Drew Fredrick, Vice President, Home Building Technology, Clayton Homes
    How enterprise tech startups and corporates can collaborate for innovation

    How enterprise tech startups and corporates can collaborate for innovation

    Paul Santos, Managing Partner, Wavemaker Partners
    How an Initiative for Standardization and Modularization Leads to Cost Reduction, Increased Efficiency-and Better Teamwork

    How an Initiative for Standardization and Modularization Leads to Cost Reduction, Increased Efficiency-and Better Teamwork

    Faruk Bilgin, Global Director Manufacturing Engineering of Webasto Group
    Empowering the Retail Paradigm

    Empowering the Retail Paradigm

    Jason Williams, VP of Engineering, DICK’S Sporting Goods
    Loading...

    Copyright © 2021 APAC CIOoutlook. All rights reserved. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy  |  Sitemap |  Subscribe

    follow on linkedinfollow on twitter follow on rss
    This content is copyright protected

    However, if you would like to share the information in this article, you may use the link below:

    https://business-intelligence.apacciooutlook.com/cxoinsights/accessibility-an-investment-in-innovation-nwid-699.html