Infinum and E.ON Hrvatska hosted an event on digital accessibility – and used the occasion to unveil a new energy management app built to the highest accessibility standards.
The event brought together clients, partners, and practitioners for an evening of talks, hands-on exploration, and honest conversation about where the industry stands on accessibility.
Two speakers – Paula Dujmović Kordić, Call Centre and Support Group Lead from E.ON Hrvatska, and Ana Šekerija, Accessibility Lead at Infinum – covered the state of digital accessibility today, what the new E.ON app does differently, and why building for everyone is no longer optional.
“Blind people don’t use our app”
That’s a direct quote – something a client once said to Šekerija, as a reason not to invest in accessibility. Ana opened the event by explaining why that statement is wrong on three counts.
First, the assumption about who needs accessible products is too narrow. Accessibility isn’t just about visual impairment. Around 16% of the global population – 1.3 billion people – lives with some form of disability, according to WHO.
In the EU, Eurostat puts that figure closer to 25%, or more than 100 million people. In Croatia alone, approximately 675,000 people are affected. And those are only the permanent cases.
Temporary limitations – a broken arm, post-surgery recovery – and situational ones – bright sunlight, background noise, a moving vehicle – affect everyone at some point.
Second, the assumption that those users aren’t already on your platform is wrong. 50% of iOS users and 72% of Android users have at least one accessibility setting enabled on their device. They’re already there.
Half of iOS users and nearly three quarters of Android users already have at least one accessibility setting active on their phone. The question was never whether people with accessibility needs use your product. They do. The question is whether your product works for them.
Third, accessibility isn’t a niche feature. It’s a better product for everyone.
The regulatory pressure is real and growing. The European Accessibility Act came into force on 28 June 2025. In Croatia, non-compliance carries fines of up to €132,720.
The first lawsuits are already underway – four of France’s largest retailers (Auchan, Carrefour, E. Leclerc, and Picard) are currently awaiting court rulings after failing to meet correction deadlines following formal warnings last year.
Ana also flagged a less obvious trend: the growing number of accessibility errors in modern digital products, likely driven in part by AI-generated code – trained on existing, often inaccessible applications. But that is not the case with E.ON.
The future is bright with new E.ON app
Paula Dujmović Kordić, Call Centre and Support Group Lead at E.ON Hrvatska, took the stage next to present the new E.ON Hrvatska mobile app – developed in partnership with Infinum, and the first solution on the Croatian market to combine electricity and gas management in a single platform.
The app was built with accessibility at its foundation, not bolted on at the end. That meant enhanced contrast ratios, scalable fonts, landscape mode support, full compatibility with screen readers, correctly spaced interactive elements, and clearly labeled interface components. An Accessibility Statement is publicly available both on the web and within the app.
Our new app, developed in partnership with Infinum, was built to make energy management easier for our users – fully accessible, with a simple interface and functionality that works for people with disabilities as well as for our entire user base.
The results after launch reflect the investment: App Store ratings more than doubled, 12,000 users onboarded with zero reported accessibility complaints, and all new users opted for e-billing.
Four stations, four perspectives
After the talks, guests were invited to experience the app firsthand.
Four stations, each configured with a different accessibility setting let attendees navigate the app the way millions of users actually do. It was the kind of exercise that tends to land harder than any slide deck: using a product you built, or one you approved, through someone else’s eyes.
The stations sparked plenty of conversation, which carried on over food and drinks.
Accessibility isn’t a check at the end – it’s a starting point
For teams building new products, Infinum’s message is clear: accessibility belongs in the requirements phase, not the QA phase. That means defining contrast, typography, and component behavior in the design system from day one, ensuring all interface elements are correctly labeled for assistive technologies, and testing throughout rather than at the finish line.
For teams with existing products, Infinum offers accessibility audits, implementation support, team training, and ongoing monitoring. All foundational guidance is available free of charge in the Infinum Accessibility Handbook.
Working on a digital product and not sure where you stand on accessibility? Explore the Infinum Accessibility Handbook or contact us to discuss an audit.