Aviva, a leading European life insurance and pensions company, has improved accessibility of their public webpages, most of which have achieved a Double-A rating according to the quality and accessibility standards laid down by W3C and WAI.
- Aviva has achieved a Double-A rating according to the quality and accessibility standards laid down by W3C and WAI.
- They have carved out a position as one of the best insurance companies for commitment and delivery as regards accessibility of their public webpages.
Aviva, a leading European life insurance and pensions company, has improved accessibility of their public webpages, most of which have achieved a Double-A rating according to the quality and accessibility standards laid down by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium, which keeps a close eye on the development of the Internet and sets standards for this) and WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative, making the web more accessible to people with disabilities).
By complying with these standards, Aviva furthers their position as one of the best insurance companies for their level of delivery and commitment to accessibility. Through their efforts they have improved the distribution and availability of their information over both their publicly availably websites: the Grupo Aviva corporative website for Spain www.aviva.es; and their partnership channel, Aviva Vida y Pensiones, www.avivavp.es.
Aviva’s goal in terms of accessibility is to maintain this level and to respect the standards and guidelines applicable in both cases. The company’s intention is that anyone should be able to use and understand all the content of their websites easily and effortlessly, no matter what the person’s personal capabilities (age, disability), the hardware they use for internet browsing, or the environment where they access the website.
According to José Manuel Jimenéz, director of marketing for Aviva Spain: “Being accessible at this level is not easy. It is something you have to plan for when you first start creating a website, and you have to work on it continuously, because if you don’t, it is impossible to attain, let alone maintain, that level of accessibility.”
Ana Sanz, responsible for Aviva Spain’s corporate social responsibility, also added that: "This project forms part of Aviva’s approach to society. As an insurance company we understand that our development has a significant social element, and it is our duty to disseminate our knowledge and to provide easy access to information in the public’s interest.”
Aviva began working on this project in 2007 when looking at a complete overhaul of their public websites. In January 2008, they published their new websites, which included huge advances in terms of accessibility. In March 2010, Aviva Spain redesigned their websites to include the new style guides specified by the international Group, taking a decisive step towards their commitment to accessibility and achieving Double-A rating.
As well as changing the technical structure of the site, the content site map and the content itself were also redesigned. At the same time they also embedded procedures that monitored accessibility of all updates and new publications on the sites. In recent weeks they have finished clarifying minor details to finally allow Aviva to obtain the Double-A award for accessibility, both for XHTML, as well as for CSS and for RSS sources.
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For more information:
Rosa Mar Mayoral
Telephone: 629 571 746
E-mail: rmayoral@ulled.com
Laura Villuendas
Telephone: 912 971 817 – 696 576 921
E-mail: laura.villuendas@aviva.es
Notes to editors:
Aviva is one of Europe’s main insurance companies in the life insurance and pensions markets.
Aviva is one of Spain’s leading companies in the life insurance and pensions sectors. It markets its products through professional advisers (Aviva Vida y Pensiones) and through strategic alliances (up to 50% and managed by Aviva) with some of Spain’s principal savings banks (Bancaja, Caixa Galicia, Unicaja, Caja España, CajaGranada and Cajamurcia).