As organizations strive to meet digital accessibility requirements under WCAG and Section 508, the need to make PDFs accessible has never been greater. However, achieving compliance manually or through outsourcing can be both costly and time-consuming. Many tools rely heavily on labor-intensive, manual remediation, which involves expert tag tree interaction.
PDF remediation software tools that use automated features like Equidox offer a smarter, more efficient solution—helping organizations save money, streamline workflows, and ensure every document is accessible to everyone.
Cost of Manual Remediation
Making PDFs accessible manually is time-consuming and expensive. Accessibility specialists must individually tag every heading, image, list, table, and form field to meet WCAG and Section 508 requirements. For large organizations managing hundreds or thousands of documents, this manual process quickly becomes unsustainable.
Depending on document complexity, manual PDF remediation can take one to five hours per file, costing $50 or more per hour in labor. That means a single 20-page report could cost several hundred dollars and days of staff time—before quality assurance even begins.
Manual work also introduces the risk of inconsistency. When multiple team members remediate documents differently, accessibility standards may vary, leading to compliance issues and rework.
Cost of Outsourcing
Outsourcing remediation can appear to be a convenient alternative, but it often comes with trade-offs. Vendors typically charge per-page fees, which can add up quickly for high-volume organizations like government agencies, universities, and corporations with frequent reports, brochures, and forms. A few dollars per page may not seem like much, but it does add up, and paying $5-20 per page for complex documents can end up costing your organization.
While outsourcing removes the burden from internal teams, it also creates dependency. Each time new documents are produced, you must send them back to the vendor, wait for turnaround, and pay again. Over time, outsourcing costs can exceed the investment in an automated remediation solution—without improving your internal accessibility capacity.
Additionally, outsourced work may lack transparency. You often can’t see how a document was tagged or confirm compliance until it’s delivered, which can delay publishing timelines and increase the risk of accessibility errors.
Equidox ROI
Automated tools like Equidox PDF Accessibility Software dramatically reduce the time and cost of remediation while maintaining high compliance standards. Equidox has features that use AI-powered automation to detect and tag document elements accurately, including headings, lists, tables, and even complex layouts, turning what once took hours into minutes. Users guide the automated detection process to ensure accurate results.
Organizations using Equidox typically see:
- Up to 90% time savings compared to manual tagging
- Significant labor cost reductions, freeing staff for other high-value initiatives
- Consistent, compliant results, reducing the risk of accessibility lawsuits and fines
- Faster publishing cycles, so accessible documents reach audiences without delays
Equidox’s ROI isn’t only financial—it also enhances compliance confidence, improves user experience for people with disabilities, and strengthens an organization’s reputation for inclusion and accessibility.
Case Studies
- Higher Education: A university remediating thousands of course materials annually reduced costs by over 70% after adopting Equidox automation. Staff who previously spent days on manual tagging now complete files in under an hour.
- Government Agency: A state agency responsible for hundreds of public reports each year eliminated outsourcing costs by training internal staff to use Equidox. They saved tens of thousands of dollars in vendor fees and gained full control over accessibility quality and timelines.
- Corporate Enterprise: A Fortune 500 company used Equidox’s batch processing feature to make its entire annual report library accessible in weeks instead of months—without hiring additional staff or external vendors.
The right tool saves time and money
Tools like Equidox with automated features deliver measurable ROI through cost savings, time efficiency, and reduced compliance risk. By investing in the right accessibility technology, organizations not only save money but also ensure that their digital documents are inclusive and usable for everyone.
Nina Overdorff
Nina comes to Equidox with years of sales and marketing experience from a variety of industries and holds a BS in Language Arts Education. Nina has a passion for words, storytelling, and information, which she believes everyone should have access to regardless of ability. After spending time as a teacher with a blind student, she became much more aware of the limitations and abilities of web accessibility, and how essential it is to those experiencing disabilities. “Being able to access information equally ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity for education, employment, and success in life.”
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