Skip to main content
It looks like you are using Internet Explorer, which unfortunately is not supported. Please use a modern browser like Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge.

Accessibility as part of daily work – building long-term accessibility competence at Elisa

Jussi-Pekka Erkkola and Jussi Mantere from Elisa, with Erkkola seated on the left and Mantere standing with crossed arms, surrounded by distinctive light brown leather ribbed chairs.

In brief

Elisa logo
Customer
Elisa

Challenge – How can accessibility be made a core part of digital service development before the new law takes effect?

Results – Elisa built their accessibility expertise with Nitor’s multidisciplinary team through close collaboration, training, and support in everyday work. Accessibility is now an integral part of Elisa's teams' daily work, processes, and expertise.

Benefits – Inclusive services deliver a better customer experience, and development work is more efficient when accessibility is built in from the start. Regulatory compliance becomes a natural part of product development.

Elisa needed a solution to ensure that its digital consumer services are truly accessible to everyone and comply with evolving accessibility legislation. The goal was not merely to fulfil the letter of the law, but to embed accessibility thinking as part of the organisation's expertise and daily operations.

The Digital Services Act, which came into force in June 2025, requires organisations providing digital services to ensure that their websites and mobile applications meet technical accessibility requirements. The Act aims to improve the possibilities of using digital services on an equal basis: digital services must be inclusive for all users, regardless of their visual, auditory, or motor limitations.

For companies, this means not only meeting technical requirements but also integrating accessibility as an integral part of customer experience and service design.


Accessibility enables a fair and inclusive customer experience

Digital channels are business-critical for Elisa, and services must be designed to meet the diverse needs of the company's over 2.8 million customers. Accessible digital services make online interactions smoother for everyone, but are essential for those with special needs related to vision, hearing, motor skills, or cognitive functions.

“Traditionally, accessibility has been treated more as a technical requirement, but nowadays it's seen as a central part of good customer experience,” says Elisa's Design Director Jussi Mantere. “For example, a customer with motor challenges must be able to navigate smoothly without a mouse or traditional keyboard.”

Elisa has invested in accessibility for a long time, but the focus was previously on individual audits and assessments. The organisation lacked a unified approach and practices that would make accessibility an integral part of everyday development work.

2.8 M
Elisa customers
10
digital channels and mobile apps
14
months of intensive work together
Sustainability is central to how we operate at Elisa, and we’re committed to building digital services that are accessible to everyone.

–Jussi-Pekka Erkkola, Vice President, eCommerce & Digital Services, Elisa.

Two smartphones showing Elisa's mobile app interfaces - one displaying a blue and white e-commerce site with product categories, the other showing a customer service app landing page with promotions.

Strategy: build competence from within

Elisa and Nitor started working together in spring 2024 with a clear vision: accessibility isn't a one-time project – it's an ongoing practice that teams need to own internally.

“Sustainability is central to how we operate at Elisa, and we're committed to building digital services that are accessible to everyone. We didn't want to approach accessibility as outsourced audit work, but as a genuine opportunity to improve customer experience and the usability of our services for everyone,” describes Jussi-Pekka Erkkola, Vice President, eCommerce & Digital Services at Elisa. “Building accessibility expertise doesn't happen overnight, but the value is significant. Creating the expertise within our development teams strengthens our future competitiveness.”

The collaboration aimed for two things: improving both the accessibility of digital consumer services and the organisation's own ability to apply accessibility to service development without external support.


Four professionals in a modern space with blue architectural elements, one person gesturing while speaking to the group.

Driving change through doing and learning together

Nitor’s multidisciplinary team – accessibility specialist, software developer, designer, and team lead – started intensive work alongside Elisa's development teams in spring 2024.

The key elements in the work were supporting development teams in their daily work and enabling continuous learning.

“What would the user experience be like for someone using only a keyboard? What about when text needs to be larger? Making accessibility fixes afterwards is inefficient and expensive, so we aim for developers and designers to jointly consider different needs and usage patterns early in the design process. Through close collaboration, accessibility becomes part of the service from day one,” says Nitor Senior Designer Liinu Lassila.

Multiple approaches to build expertise

The team used multiple approaches to build expertise:

Collaborative work

Accessibility assessments were conducted jointly with Elisa's teams rather than as outsourced audits.

Training program

A comprehensive training path was implemented covering accessibility legislation, customer group needs, and assistive technologies.

Daily support for teams

Nitor's experts worked alongside Elisa's teams, solving development work issues in real-time.

Working in pairs

Intensive pair work between developers and designers ensured knowledge transfer and embedding of new operating methods.

Holistic approach

Cross-disciplinary collaboration was carried out across service development teams, content producers and the Design System team (EDS) that builds shared components for services.

Six professionals in a modern interior, with two seated in distinctive brown leather chairs and four standing behind them.

Deliver services to all customers faster with an early accessibility focus

The partnership produced tangible results for both customers and Elisa’s operations:

  1. Faster development: Considering accessibility from the start has accelerated development work compared to post-implementation fixes.

  2. Competence growth: Designers and developers know to address aspects like colour contrasts, button definitions, and keyboard navigation as part of daily work.

  3. New normal: Once teams know the accessibility requirements and what they mean in practice, development proceeds normally. For example, Elisa’s e-commerce team found that building accessible features takes no extra time.

  4. Solid operating model: With ongoing training and support, development teams have adopted accessibility and also know how to measure their progress.

Elisa has shown that developing accessibility goes far beyond mandatory compliance—it creates better usability for all customers while building the organisation's competence.

From a business perspective, this means both better customer experience and more cost-effective development work.

“We are well prepared for the Digital Services Act changes, but more importantly, we continuously deliver better services to our customers – whatever their needs may be,” Jussi Mantere summarises.

Timo-Pekka Viljamaa, Director, Design Services

Identify new opportunities with sustainable digital development

We digital engineers are here to meet your challenges. Let's harness the potential of your business together.