Good business practices help promote the viability and reputation of an enterprise.? Today's news that a major US discount retailer, Target, is being sued for lack of accessibility in regards to its site design and construction, should help educate the business world at large to the legal and ethical implications of bad business practices on the web.
This should be a wake up call for all businesses, not only in the US, but also worldwide that the standards for web design and deployment have been raised by consumers. Whilst this legal challenge may reflect an ongoing saga between the need for businesses to supply all their products on the web in a marketable fashion, and the need for consumers to be able to access and purchase those products, good business practices should be paramount as part of the core ethos in having a business to client or business to business contractual relationship.

In at least one state in the US, all web sites are now subject to Section 508 Accessibility legislation, and I predict that this trend will continue throughout the US and the wider world. Similar precidents have already been set in Australia and the UK.

Consumer standards and guidelines should matter to a business, and that means delivering an accessible, web standards compliant website to your customers, as your customers need to be able to access your services as needed.
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