Customer Identity Cloud and accessible authentication
At Okta, we endeavor to build a world where everyone can safely use any technology, powered by their identity. Our definition of “everyone” includes people who rely on assistive technology to access and engage with digital products, services, and applications.
This May 16th, Okta joins our partners, customers and the world in acknowledging Global Accessibility Awareness Day. We encourage you to visit the GAAD organization website to learn more about how you can participate.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 2 billion people worldwide have a visual impairment. Okta’s Research team shared survey results from our customers that indicate:
- 13% have a form of blindness
- 13% have difficulty typing
- 25% rely on assistive technology
The accessibility imperative
Okta Customer Identity Cloud (Auth0) end-user-facing interfaces enable people to access applications and services provided by our customers. Accessible authentication is not a nice-to-have; it’s vital to successful digital strategies across use cases, verticals, and geographies.
But first, what does it mean to be accessible? W3C provides four pillars of accessibility that help ground this concept into specific terms:
|
Perceivable |
Operable |
Understandable |
Robust |
|
Information and user interface components must be presentable to people in ways they can perceive. |
User interface components and navigation must be operable by people. |
Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable by the people. |
Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. |
If your business relies on conversion, making your signup and login flows accessible adds tremendous value. When people can’t effectively navigate interfaces, they’re more likely to experience login difficulties, call your support center for assistance, or become increasingly frustrated and give up.
Would you deliberately offer a product or service that makes it difficult for over 25% of the people you want to reach? That would be non-inclusive and a huge missed opportunity (with potentially staggering revenue loss).
These statistics underscore how crucial it is to acknowledge that many people struggle with digital interfaces due to inaccessible designs and implementations and highlight the importance of providing accessible interfaces and inclusive services.
Okta’s accessibility investment
Customer Identity Cloud user-facing authentication interfaces, collectively known as Universal Login, were recently audited against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2, level AA by an independent auditor. We are pleased to share the results with you in our recently published Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT).
Customers can now opt-in for Early Access to offer Universal Login with all the WCAG 2.2 level AA fixes and enhancements from within their tenant under Branding > Universal Login > Advanced Options.
The WCAG 2.2, level AA compliant mode will remain opt-in for several months to allow time for customers who previously customized Universal Login to ensure recent fixes do not adversely affect customized styling. After this period, the accessibility enhancements will be applied to all tenants.
We know how important it is for our customers to offer accessible authentication to help meet compliance with regulations such as ADA, AODA, Section 508, Unruh, and the EU Web Accessibility Directive. Our goal is to make it easy for our customers to do the right thing: provide a simple, straightforward, accessible login experience for everyone, however they use technology. To learn more, visit https://okta.com/accessibility.
These materials and any recommendations within are not legal, privacy, security, compliance, or business advice. These materials are intended for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the most current security, privacy, and legal developments nor all relevant issues. You are responsible for obtaining legal, security, privacy, compliance, or business advice from your own lawyer or other professional advisor and should not rely on the recommendations herein. Okta is not liable to you for any loss or damages that may result from your implementation of any recommendations in these materials. Okta makes no representations, warranties, or other assurances regarding the content of these materials. Information regarding Okta's contractual assurances to its customers can be found at okta.com/agreements.
