Organisations, regardless of scale, often go through digital transformation projects that involve the implementation of a new CMS.

Implementing a new CMS often has many benefits for organisations such as improved usability, extended functionality and reduced costs however, a CMS can’t do everything.

CMS Vendors often claim that their products have inbuilt accessibility checkers, but do they perform? Existing clients changing their CMS and prospective clients often tell us that they don’t need a service such as Sitemorse because their CMS will do it for them.

Whilst most CMS products have some accessibility features built into them, they don’t look at everything and they certainly don’t look at things from an external, independent point of view, something which is crucial for any assessment. So, how can you be ‘sure’ that your CMS will do this for you? Here are a few suggestions to help you find out for yourself how compliant they really are:

1. Ask for a couple of references websites that use the CMS and run them through an accessibility checker such as https://Sitemorse.com/check
2. Get a trial of the CMS using a demo site that you control, use their accessibility features, and then check the pages through an accessibility checker such as https://Sitemorse.com/check

If after this if you’re still trusting the CMS provider and convinced by their promise, ensure that within your contract with the CMS provider there is a specific clause relating to legal indemnity, which includes the specifics of what they state their compliance to be and what costs you can claim off them in case of legal action against you from an external party.