A New Front in Digital Equity: Proactive Accessibility by Design

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – January 27, 2026 – As enterprises grapple with a labyrinth of digital accessibility regulations, Minneapolis-based MHC has unveiled a new approach that promises to shift the paradigm from reactive cleanup to proactive compliance. The company announced its NorthStar Customer Communications Management (CCM) solution now embeds accessibility features into documents before they are created, a strategy it calls "accessibility-by-design." This move aims to dismantle the costly and inefficient cycle of post-creation remediation that plagues organizations producing high volumes of customer communications.

Instead of fixing accessibility issues on individual documents like statements, notices, and forms after the fact, MHC's platform ensures the foundational templates are accessible from the outset. Consequently, every one of the potentially millions of documents generated from these templates is born compliant, a significant departure from industry norms.

The Widening Regulatory Net

The push for this innovation stems from a rapidly evolving legal and regulatory landscape. While website accessibility has been a focal point for years, regulatory bodies across the globe are now turning their attention to the vast sea of digital documents that define modern customer interaction.

In the United States, the Department of Justice has consistently affirmed that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to digital spaces, and Section 508 mandates accessibility for federal government technology. This pressure is not isolated to the U.S. Canada's Accessible Canada Act (ACA) and Ontario's AODA, Australia's Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), and the formidable European Accessibility Act (EAA) are all extending their reach. These regulations increasingly cover high-volume, personalized communications that were once an afterthought.

The EAA, in particular, represents a significant shift. It moves beyond simple automated compliance checks, asking a more profound question: can a person with a disability actually use the document? This focus on functional usability over mere technical compliance raises the stakes for businesses, making a reactive, document-by-document fix an unsustainable strategy.

The Spiraling Cost of Remediation

For many organizations, the traditional method of addressing document accessibility has been a costly and operationally complex bottleneck. The process of remediating documents after they are composed is not only time-consuming but also fraught with challenges, especially at scale.

"Organizations worldwide are facing rising regulatory pressures, but more importantly, they increasingly recognize the need to deliver better experiences to all their customers," said Gina Armada, CEO of MHC. "Customers have been vocal — they want compliance early in the process to avoid paying for cleanup in perpetuity, or worse yet, monetary and brand reputation penalties for non-compliance."

This reactive model introduces significant operational delays, creates inconsistent customer experiences, and is often impractical for the millions of time-sensitive communications generated daily. Industry experts note that some organizations have faced "tremendous amounts of rework" when regulations were updated, forcing them to re-remediate entire archives of documents at great expense. Outsourcing this work, a common tactic, can also introduce security risks and quality control issues. By aiming to prevent the problem at its source, MHC's approach targets the millions of dollars organizations spend "attempting to fix accessibility issues after composition."

How 'Accessibility-by-Design' Works

MHC's solution is built into its NorthStar CCM platform, focusing on the pre-composition stage of document generation. The core idea is to treat accessibility as a foundational component of a document template, much like branding or layout.

"Accessibility-by-design allows organizations to operationalize accessibility," explained Emily Washington, Head of Product at MHC. "By ensuring templates are accessible, teams can make large volumes of personalized communications accessible by default. That shifts accessibility from a corrective step to a proactive, built-in capability."

The platform includes features like automated accessibility certification, a new addition for 2026. This tool allows a template to be checked for compliance before it is published and used for production. It provides a clear pass/fail status and generates detailed reports that can be used to support internal audits and demonstrate regulatory adherence. This proactive certification is a key differentiator in a market where accessibility solutions have often focused on either manual services or post-production scanning and fixing. By building compliance into the automated workflow, the system ensures that structure, readability, and compatibility with assistive technologies are consistently applied across all channels.

The Customer Experience Dividend

While mitigating risk and reducing cost are powerful drivers, the ultimate beneficiary of this shift is the end customer. Moving beyond a purely compliance-driven mindset reveals a significant opportunity to enhance brand loyalty and foster genuine inclusivity. Accessible communications ensure that all customers, including the millions who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers, receive the same level of service and can access critical information in a timely manner.

When a customer with a visual impairment receives a bank statement or a healthcare notice that is immediately usable, it removes friction and builds trust. Conversely, receiving an inaccessible document creates frustration, delays, and a sense of being excluded. Research in the customer experience (CX) field consistently shows that inclusive, equitable, and usable interactions are direct drivers of brand loyalty and positive reputation.

By ensuring that every communication is born accessible, companies can deliver a more consistent and equitable experience, strengthening relationships and broadening their market reach to include a wider audience that values and expects digital equity.

A New Standard for Enterprise Communications

The enterprise software market for customer communications is crowded, with major players like OpenText, Quadient, and Adobe all offering robust accessibility solutions. These platforms leverage automation and AI to help clients manage the complex demands of compliance. However, MHC's explicit focus on pre-composition template certification signals a strategic evolution in the market.

While competitors offer powerful tools for post-composition remediation and accessible content creation, MHC is betting that the most efficient and sustainable path is to prevent non-compliant documents from being created in the first place. This "shift left" philosophy, long a tenet in software development, is now being applied to high-volume document production. It reframes accessibility not as a final, corrective checkpoint, but as an integrated, operational discipline. This proactive stance ensures that accessibility is far more sustainable and helps guarantee that all customers receive the same level of service and communication without delay.

As regulations tighten and customer expectations for inclusive experiences grow, the move from reactive remediation to proactive design is becoming less of a choice and more of a strategic necessity for businesses worldwide.