Many businesses that provide goods and services to the EU’s 450 million consumers must comply with new accessibility standards that took effect in June. Like the GDPR before it, this new act had companies scrambling to adjust their websites, e-commerce platforms, and banking apps. But despite similar standards existing in the U.S., many still have a long way to go.
“One thing that surprised us was companies, even massive companies, coming to us two weeks before [the deadline] saying, ‘Oh we didn’t know anything about this,’” said Irish entrepreneur Cormac Chisholm.
His startup, DevAlly, is among the first to leverage technology to make it easier for businesses to detect accessibility problems. It also helps them comply with regulations like the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which promises hefty fines for new products and services that aren’t in compliance. (Existing ones get a grace period to comply until 2030.)
Launched in 2024, DevAlly audits for accessibility barriers such as videos lacking captions on corporate websites. It also tracks customer-reported issues and helps companies create roadmaps for fixes and generate accessibility reports.
While human consultants can also conduct audits, Chisholm, DevAlly’s CEO, believes such an approach can’t scale to meet demand or adapt to the realities of shipping digital products and features. DevAlly has accessibility experts, too, but it leverages AI and accessibility LLMs to automate testing and issue tracking. This, Chisholm believes, helps integrate accessibility with the product development life cycle.
