Ofcom's inclusion software recommendation plays integral role in winning award for Talk Direct Leeds

Success with Browsealoud

Talk Direct Ltd is one of the largest O2 Franchises operating 14 successful stores, with 160 staff, across Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Tyne & Wear.  The stores offer communication solutions with a second-to-none service to all consumers and businesses. The strong work ethic and passion for mobile technology is demonstrated throughout the company with its stores always aiming to exceed customers’ expectations.

In 2016, they proudly won the British Franchise Association HSBC ‘Judges Award’ for their pioneering iCare Project that provides access to technology to visually impaired people.

The iCare Project started in 2014 when one of Talk Direct’s Assistant Store Leaders, Mark Skelton, lost his sight.  As Mark adjusted to his new life his dependency on digital technologies increased dramatically.  “Simple tasks that were second nature before - like reading a message or writing a short text - were no longer so straightforward” says Mark.  “But, with the right tools at my fingertips I could, once again, communicate easily with friends and family.”

Mark now spends his time at Talk Direct supporting vulnerable customers through the iCare project.  He’s a great ambassador for the project and a true inspiration.  His work has led to a dedicated resource - an O2 Guru - at each of Talk Direct’s stores providing technical support to all of their customers to ensure they get the best from their device regardless of their disability.

Digital Inclusion Software, Browsealoud 

And, the support continues to their online store with the help of Texthelp’s digital inclusion software, Browsealoud.  It adds speech, reading and translation support to Talk Direct’s website talk-direct.com facilitating access and participation for people with Dyslexia, Low Literacy, English as a Second Language, and those with mild visual impairments. 

“Adding Browsealoud to our website was the logical next step - we want our customers to experience the same high level of service from our digital platform store as our physical stores and Browsealoud helps us achieve that.” 

Talk Direct Ltd has quite a diverse customer base with very differing needs so they needed a solution that would offer the widest possible support.  With Browsealoud, their website visitors can hear the information read out loud in any of the 40 languages that are available, increase the size of the text so it can be more easily viewed, and copy information to an MP3 audio file to listen to at a time that suits them best.  

“Browsealoud played an integral role in helping us to achieve our award for the iCare Project last year” says Mark.  “Having a fully inclusive website has allowed us to engage and work with a wide range of groups from our community that would otherwise have been excluded.” 

Practice what we preach

“With Browsealoud, we’re practicing what we preach on accessibility and inclusion solutions for vulnerable customers - we’re providing the best possible accessibility solution on our website and we’re benefiting from greater customer engagement.  It’s no surprise Ofcom recommend Browsealoud as best practice to ensure people with disabilities can access information online - I can’t recommend it enough.”

Browsealoud can be accessed through the orange launchpad located at the top right hand corner of every page on their website. 

For more information visit texthelp.com/browsealoud.  

To find out more about Ofcom’s report download our summary guide and learn how best to make your customer information readily accessible.