AudioEye and CivicPlus Enter Strategic Partnership to Streamline Web Accessibility to Local Governments

TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AudioEye, Inc. (OTCQB: AEYE) ("AudioEye" or the "Company") today announced a strategic partnership with CivicPlus, the premier integrated technology platform dedicated to serving local governments. CivicPlus currently serves more than 2,500 clients, managing the online representation of municipalities to more than 55,000 government employees and interacting with more than 60 million citizens. Founded in 1997, CivicPlus has been included on the GovTech100 list since inception, and has been instrumental in their clients being honored with more than 290 top website awards, in the past four years alone.

Sascha Ohler, CivicPlus Vice President of Research and Development, was instrumental in aligning the companies. Having fully assessed the end-to-end AudioEye solution, Mr. Ohler quickly became an advocate of AudioEye's unique approach to addressing accessibility through technology and the role it can play in providing great value to CivicPlus' customer base. "For more than 20 years, CivicPlus has, exclusively, focused on working with local governments. We understand and appreciate our customers' financial constraints. As financial stewards on their behalf, it is our responsibility to find the most efficient and cost-effective solution to achieve and maintain accessibility." Mr. Ohler added, "we have found that solution and a great partner in AudioEye. Their technology and mature processes strike an ideal balance between automated and engineering-based testing and remediation. Their ability to integrate seamlessly with third-party platforms combined with their partner-centric approach and sincere commitment to serving the best interests of our clients were key in our decision."

"We are two companies committed to accessibility, inclusivity, and enhancing the user experience for the widest audience possible," said Todd Bankofier, AudioEye Chief Executive Officer. "We also share an understanding-of and appreciation-for the importance of achieving accessibility efficiently and leveraging technology to do so," added Mr. Bankofier. "Offering our services through a partnership with CivicPlus allows local governments to benefit from the partnership in implementation and pricing; the process is streamlined and seamless for them with all the benefits of fully accessible sites to ensure they continually conform with ADA-related digital accessibility requirements. Something that is especially significant to municipalities." To echo this sentiment, Mr. Ohler added, "digital accessibility is a key initiative for CivicPlus on so many levels. It is important not only for the sake of compliance with regulations, but more importantly, to ensure all citizens have equal access to the information made available to them from their local governments," said Mr. Ohler.

The partnership between CivicPlus and AudioEye will put the full breadth and depth of AudioEye solutions at the disposal of the CivicPlus design and development teams seeking to conform with the informative guidance supplied through Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. As they create and maintain customer sites, they will be leveraging an arsenal of proprietary automated testing, remediation, and compliance monitoring technologies. AudioEye will also make available subject matter experts and engineers to CivicPlus accessibility stakeholders as they ensure accessibility is built into the award winning CivicPlus CivicEngage^® content management system (CMS). Additionally, CivicPlus will leverage AudioEye for continuous testing and monitoring across, potentially, thousands of existing client sites to ensure issues of accessibility are quickly identified and resolved. AudioEye will certify participating government clients' commitment to accessibility and provide end-users a resource to communicate accessibility issues, should they encounter one, directly to AudioEye.

The AudioEye technology platform monitors sites as they grow, automatically fixing issues to ensure accessibility to individuals using a range of assistive technology. In addition, the Ally Toolbar, a proprietary assistive tool, will be placed directly on sites, allowing users to customize and enhance their experience. "Designed to enhance and allow for the customization of the experience for users with a wide range of abilities, the Ally Toolbar has considerations including a dyslexic font, adjustments to color contrast, font size and navigation, keyboard controls, a player that will read aloud site content and the ability to use voice commands to navigate," said Mr. Bankofier.

Customers of CivicPlus will have immediate access to the range of products offered by AudioEye directly through their existing channels. Both companies are attending the National Association of Government Web Professionals (NAGW) at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla in San Diego, California, Wednesday through Friday, September 20–22, 2017. Company representatives will be available throughout the conference in Booth #3 in the expo room, and AudioEye Vice President of Sales, Dan Sullivan will be available for Q&A following his presentation on Making 3^rd Party Platforms Accessible, Wednesday, September 20, 2017.

About CivicPlus
Based in Manhattan, Kansas and founded in 1997, CivicPlus is the premier integrated technology platform for local governments. Over the course of more than 20 years, CivicPlus has acquired an unmatched understanding of the challenges faced by communities; the need to do more, with less. Providing the connection between citizens and their elected officials, CivicPlus has designed more than 2,500 local government websites serving 60 million citizens throughout North America. In 2016 alone, CivicPlus local government websites registered over 2 billion page views and collected 25+ million website searches.

Recognized by INC.5000 as a fastest growing company six years in a row, CivicPlus has also made the GovTech100 list, every year since inception. CivicPlus offers a range of solutions including website content management (CivicEngage), mass and emergency notifications (CivicReady), recreational management (CivicRec), and human resources management (CivicHR). All are connected by the CivicPlus platform, and all are supported by one seamless team.

About AudioEye, Inc.
AudioEye's software enables every enterprise, from corporations to government agencies, to make their content more consumable through technology.

More accessible.  More usable.  More people.

AudioEye's common stock trades on the OTCQB under the symbol "AEYE."  The Company maintains offices in Tucson, Atlanta and Washington D.C. For more information about AudioEye and its online accessibility solutions, please visit https://www.audioeye.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about AudioEye's expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, prospects, financial condition, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and are "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined under the federal securities laws. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "believe", "anticipate", "should", "intend", "plan", "will", "expects", "estimates", "projects", "positioned", "strategy", "outlook" and similar words. You should read the statements that contain these types of words carefully. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements, including the risk that the Company's bookings will not increase as currently expected or at all. There may be events in the future that AudioEye is not able to predict accurately or over which AudioEye has no control. Other risks are described more fully in AudioEye's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements reflect management's analysis as of the date of this press release and AudioEye urges you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. AudioEye does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to such forward-looking statements to reflect events or uncertainties after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

For Further information, please contact:

Todd Bankofier, AudioEye Chief Executive Officer 
Email: [email protected] 
Phone: (520) 308-6140

Mark Friesen, CivicPlus Director of Marketing 
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (785) 323-4751

Matt Kreps, Darrow Associates Investor Relations, (AudioEye, Inc.)
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (512) 696-6401

SOURCE AudioEye, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.audioeye.com