Did you know that procurement choices shape accessibility?
Did you know that organizations are legally responsible for the accessibility of third-party tools embedded in their digital platforms? Accessibility does not stop with what teams build internally. It extends to what is purchased, integrated, and deployed. Vendor tools can introduce barriers just as easily as internal systems, often without leaders realizing the exposure.
Why this keeps happening
Procurement decisions are often treated as technical or contractual. Accessibility is assumed to be handled by vendors. Leadership rarely asks how tools perform for real users. Responsibility becomes diffuse. As long as a product works on paper, its lived experience stays outside decision-making.
What this signals
This pattern signals how accessibility gets outsourced. Barriers remain hidden inside contracts and integrations. Issues surface only after rollout, when replacing tools becomes difficult. Accessibility feels external, even though its impact lands squarely inside the organization.
Why this matters to leaders
When accessibility is missing from procurement, leaders inherit risk they did not intend to accept. Choices made upstream limit flexibility downstream. This is not about vendor expertise. It is about whether leadership recognizes procurement as a governance decision with real consequences.
Where leaders encounter this
This often appears during vendor selection, contract approvals, and platform integrations. Accessibility stays invisible when evaluation focuses on features, price, or timelines alone.
Closing reflection
Accessibility does not disappear when work is delegated. It follows every decision that shapes the digital ecosystem.
How visible is accessibility when your organization chooses the tools it relies on?
Take the Inclusive Leadership Self-Assessment Test
If you’re curious to see where your organization sits on the Digital Accessibility Maturity Model – and what that means for your next leadership decisions – you can take a short, leadership-focused survey to find out.
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About Denis Boudreau
Denis Boudreau is a consultant, trainer, and speaker specializing in digital accessibility and disability inclusion. He works with organizational leaders who want to equip their teams with the skills to create accessible websites and digital products – so no one is left behind. A Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA), Denis has trained thousands of web professionals over the past 20+ years and delivered hundreds of workshops in both English and French. He has helped leading brands like Netflix, Salesforce, and Victoria’s Secret embed accessibility into their digital strategies, empowering them to meet legal obligations, improve user experience, and connect with more people, more effectively.