One of the ways I keep up to date with 50+ marketing issues is Google’s Alert service. I have specified a range of '50+ type of words and phrases' and Google kindly informs me when they occur in the world’s media that it scans.
Yesterday it spotted a news release from IBM and Watchfire that explained their research of Financial Services web sites.. The thing that Google picked up was the how bad these sites are at catering for people with disabilities and for older people with sight and dexterity issues.
The report makes fascinating reading. Here are some of the conclusions.
66 percent of financial institutions' Web sites collect information with no security features or practices to protect that data.
18 percent of companies use forms that could potentially leak personal data to third parties.
95% of companies had pages that were inaccessible to people with disabilities.
Now IBM and Watchfire have good reason to paint a black picture since they are promoting their new services that helps rectify these problems.
Even so, if you are in the Financial Services industry, or indeed any other business it would be worthwhile asking your IT /Web people if your company has any of these problems. Watch for the blushes!
