Oracle TV Spot Shows Blind And Visually Impaired People Taking Roles In Customer Service, Finance And More

Oracle is challenging the old axiom that seeing is believing with a TV commercial that showcases how its cloud technology is allowing blind and visually impaired people to take on jobs that once required considerable assistance from others.

The 30-second spot showcases Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired (IBVI), a West Allis, Wisc.-based organization that employs people with disabilities in both industrial and office roles. A voice-over featuring IBVI’s director of customer success, Deborah Ambro-Crandell, explains how Oracle’s cloud-based applications are helping her team of 12 tackle their duties in call centres, on assembly lines and in other environments. The TV commercial also shows IBVI’s chief innovation officer, Emmanuel Vouvakis, engaging with the team.

More details about IBVI’s relationship with Oracle were provided in a blog post the software giant published last month. Using accessibility tools such as JAWS (text-to-speech) and ZoomText, for instance, IBVI employees are able to access Oracle’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) application, among others.

“In the past, most of the jobs available to the blind community were limited to manufacturing and assembly. Jobs in customer service and finance required the assistance of one sighted person for every four blind employees,” the Oracle blog post said, adding that IBVI team members can now work independently.

While the TV spot focuses on business and productivity tools, Oracle recently showed how it is increasing its investment in its infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) portfolio with a plan to add 2,000 jobs to better compete with the likes of Amazon Web Services.