Meet 508-compliance standards with Skuid toolkit for apps

Chattanooga, Tenn. – Skuid, a leading toolkit for creating human-centered digital experiences, today announced an expanded offering to help public sector agencies accelerate digital initiatives and create usable and inclusive app experiences that meet stringent 508-compliance standards.

The demand for digital transformation in the public sector has skyrocketed over the past year, in particular online applications that engage citizens and employees in meaningful and impactful ways. This demand has also highlighted particular requirements for agility and rapid iteration in response to ever-changing constituent and employee needs.

Government agencies in particular have distinct challenges as they go digital. In addition to significant scale issues, the users of the apps they create have wide-ranging needs and experience: citizens from all walks of life, service members, volunteers, field workers, and more. They must overcome outdated and frustrating systems that don’t work the way people work coupled with slow development and delivery times.

“IT teams in the public sector carry a heavy burden to deliver and accelerate innovation to their employees, volunteers, and those they serve,” said Ryan Niemann, CEO of Skuid. “Skuid gives public sector customers a path to agility and innovation that is both scalable and secure so they can focus on the mission-critical work at hand.”

Skuid brings together innovative technology and a proven approach to serve the unique needs of federal, state, and local agencies. With Skuid, agencies quickly create custom apps designed to fit their mission, all without incurring technical debt and IT complexity. For example, the US Department of Veteran Affairs and Accenture Federal Services recently used Skuid to rebuild and deploy one of its core applications in just six months. The VA achieved 508 compliance, enhanced the user experience and efficiency, and set a scalable foundation of agility for the future. Other agencies, including several DoD agencies, have used Skuid to achieve digital transformation across a variety of use cases including workforce management, health and social services, distribution of financial assistance, public health efforts like COVID-19 vaccine management and contact tracing, and more.

Skuid also offers customers a clear and simple path to achieving 508 compliance quickly.

“It [508 compliance] is part of every module that we develop, and that includes everything from training documents and training deliverables,” said Hanna Buchan, senior analyst at the U.S. Department of Veterans. Hanna and her team used Skuid to create a new, improved, and compliant experience for one of the V.A.’s largest applications that is used by over 17,500 employees daily. She said about the application,

“We wanted to make the application as seamless and user friendly as possible. We were able to both add enhancements to [the application] and make it easier to use, too."

Skuid offers the following benefits to public sector agencies:

Agility and speed: Government organizations must act fast. Digital transformation initiatives in the public sector are often expensive and painfully slow to be developed and delivered. Skuid customers create custom digital experiences up to 10 times faster, dramatically increasing user adoption and business innovation.
A path to 508 compliance: The path to 508 compliance can be daunting, but achieving and maintaining these standards doesn’t have to be complicated. Skuid experts can help agencies understand why Section 508 matters, what it entails, why being compliant is more urgent than ever, and how to obtain compliance.
A proven approach: Skuid has worked with everything from major to local federal agencies to help design and build experiences that are accessible, compliant, and address users’ needs. Skuid experts can guide the digital transformation process by offering change management best practices and help leaders future-proof their applications for compliance with a scalable and declarative foundation. ‍
Free automated accessibility test: Eligible government agencies have access to a quick and free, one page accessibility test. Get access to all conformance issues, recommended fixes, and code errors. Learn more at: https://usablenet.com/automated-accessibility-testing-tool

Over the last two years, Skuid has demonstrated tremendous customer success in the public sector. The company has established partnerships with FedRAMP-certified groups like Carahsoft and Salesforce, garnered attention for its work with the US Department of Veteran Affairs and several DoD agencies, and expects to hit one million licences within the public sector in the next quarter. Using Skuid, customers have achieved digital transformation across a variety of use cases including workforce management, health and social services, distribution of financial assistance, public health efforts like COVID-19 vaccine management and contact tracing, and more.

To align with the mission-critical work of its public sector customers, Skuid has become a Corporate Champion of the Wounded Warriors Project (WWP). WWP delivers life- changing programs to over 100,000 wounded warriors, their families, and caregivers. To learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.
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Skuid will host a live webinar “VA.gov case study - Create 508-compliant digital experiences quickly and painlessly” on June 29, 12:00 - 1:00 pm EDT, featuring conversations with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and experts from UsableNet, focusing on how to become 508 compliant easily and quickly. The VA.gov team will share their experiences of delivering online citizen- and employee-facing apps that are usable, inclusive, and meet stringent 508-compliance standards.
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Resources:

Customer story (U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs): Change management champions: how the VA overcame 508 compliance challenges using Skuid
Customer story (FullSkope): FullSkope helps banks disburse over $250 million in PPP loans.
Customer story (Chrysalis): Chrysalis case study: rapid response to COVID-19
Live webinar: “VA.gov case study - Create 508-compliant digital experiences quickly and painlessly,” Tuesday, June 29, 12:00 - 1:00 pm EDT.

About Skuid

Generic applications rarely match the unique needs of your people, which kills adoption, productivity, and ROI. Admins and developers dramatically increase app adoption and innovation with low-code, Lightning-native tools from Skuid. Thousands of builders have used Skuid to create custom digital experiences—up to 10 times faster—for millions of users across dozens of countries, dramatically increasing adoption and innovation. Discover the #1 toolkit to accelerate custom Salesforce app design, development, and adoption at https://www.skuid.com

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