The Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) is a distribution company that is committed to providing safe and reliable gas to millions of Australians across the country. In January, AGIG started working with Recite Me after a customer survey revealed that 93% of their customers wanted the company to improve accessibility and provide inclusive services.
Putting Customers at the Centre
Around 6 years ago, AGIG joined a national initiative called the Energy Charter, formed by a group of forward-thinking energy CEOs. The goal was to put customers at the heart of the utility industry. This initiative challenged AGIG to ask some tough questions, particularly, what are they doing to support people facing difficult circumstances?
In consultation with customers AGIG learned:
93% of their customers said they wanted them to do more in support of people experiencing vulnerability, including providing accessible communications
Accessible Communications with the Recite Me Assistive Toolbar
AGIG has always made a priority to ensure the safety of their customers; however, through research and discussions with customers, they came to the realisation that not everyone would be able to access this online.
“We have all of our safety information that we want our customers to know up on our website. But 20% of our customers can’t access it, or certainly can’t access it easily.”
Kylie Dobson, Customer Strategy Manager, AGIG
Whether due to language barriers, visual impairments, or literacy challenges, a significant portion of its community was effectively locked out of the information they needed.
With the Recite Me Toolbar, AGIG customers can convert text to speech for easier reading, adjust font sizes and colour contrast for better visibility and translate content into multiple languages for better communication.
“Recite Me was pretty simple to get approval on internally, as this was about safety, and this goes right back to our core value of providing safe and reliable gas. Recite Me was financially really good, particularly for the reporting requirements we have.”
“The next step for us is making sure all of our standard communications are available online to support the 20% of our customers who can’t read or understand them with ease.”
Kylie Dobson, Customer Strategy Manager, AGIG
The Future of Inclusive Utilities
AGIG are also in the process of updating its internal procedures so that any new or revised documents automatically get uploaded to the site and made accessible from the start.
Accessibility is now part of the AGIG culture, and in this process, they have discovered that many people across our business have lived experience with accessibility challenges.
By integrating Recite Me’s tools, they have helped to improve their customer communications, taking them a step in the right direction to a more inclusive utilities organisation.
For more information on how you can utilise Recite Me’s selection of accessibility tools, contact a member of our team today.
Kickstart your accessibility journey with Recite Me
Act today to ensure your website is accessible and compliant with the latest WCAG standards. Get started on your website accessibility strategy by working through the following action points:
- Contact our team for more advice about WCAG standards and Accessibility best practices.
- Find out more about the Recite Me Web Accessibility Checker.
- Schedule a free demonstration to learn how our technology can help you.
- Run a free scan of your website for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.
- Try our assistive toolbar on your website.
