Our ears perked up when we heard that a blindness agency was using Salesforce for its case management system, as we knew it had to be accessible for staff who were blind or visually impaired. Of course we Googled “Salesforce accessibility” and 6 or 7 different suggestions immediately popped up, including that it had started an Accessibility Support Team in October 2020. The company states it “is the world’s #1 customer relationship management (CRM) platform. We help your marketing, sales, commerce, service and IT teams work as one from anywhere — so you can keep your customers happy everywhere. The agency’s ability to unite all of its departments – case management, fundraising, marketing, sales, human resources and security – on one cloud based system plus a reduced rate for nonprofits and a free 10-license nonprofit starter pack was especially appealing. Both the Classic and Lightning versions have good out of the box accessibility, and there is the ability to toggle between the two. A page on setting up profiles for blind and low vision users points out that employers should set up screens by the type of task so employees can work optimally. “As not all blind or low vision users in your organization will be performing the same work, it is important to understand how people with these disabilities will be using Salesforce. Talk to your users with disabilities. Gain an understanding for how they work so you can configure Salesforce to be efficient given their workflow and disability.” Salesforce does have an entire page on its site devoted to using Lightning with a screen reader. But even with Salesforce’s emphasis on accessibility, the agency found the Classic version easy for JAWS desktop users while they have encountered quite a bit of difficulty with Lightning, so they are working with a consultant on JAWS scripts. There is excellent user support and their online Trailblazer Community offers a platform where users can exchange ideas and get suggestions, so we’ll be looking forward to Salesforce upgrading their products to full accessibility. Interested? Take a deeper dive with this Getting Started Guide.
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