Canadian Businesses: 10% Have Taken Action _____________________(news)
Link: canada.cnet.com
A recent report from Canada's Task Force 2000 indicates that 90% of
Canadian businessmen know about y2k. About half plan to take action.
About 10% have actually taken some action.
It is obvious that Canada is not going to make the 2000 deadline.
But one official claimed that Canada is doing great, compared to the rest
of the world. Sadly, he's probably correct.
The article raises the question of the domino effect in the international
economy. What if Korea isn't compliant?
Nobody asked the Big Question: What if Japan's banks aren't compliant?
This is on C/Net (Feb. 3).
* * * * * * *
"The situation is not business as usual," said Douglas Lagass‚, director
of research at the Year 2000 Research Group. "People will get nervous in
a year or so from now, and that may affect the economic system more
than the problem itself." . . .
"I think it's great," said Gaylen Duncan, president and CEO of
Information Technology Association of Canada. "It's a wake up call to
Canadian businesses."
Lagass‚ agrees, but he believes the government is leaving most
companies on their own. "The government is not creating any
accountability for the organizations that have created the infrastructures,
like the transportation system, the telecommunications system, the news
system and Hydro, and I think their should be more interest placed in
making sure those companies comply."
In a Statistics Canada survey of more than 2,000 companies, 90 per cent
said they are aware of the millenium bug but only half said they plan to
take action. Of those, 10 per cent have put a formal plan in place. . . .
The task force also asks that lending institutions, the insurance and legal
communities, and accounting firms refuse dealings with any business
without a formal Y2K plan of action.
"I think if this doesn't work, we'll have to escalate 'should' to 'must,'"
Duncan said, "but I don't think we'll have to do that. We've got so many
armies going out and asking for action plans."
Canada is doing the best job it can, Lagass‚ said. Compared with the rest
of the world, it's doing a great job. But an understanding of business
interdependency is of the utmost importance. "Canada can have its whole
house in order -- Y2K OK -- but if Canada wants to deal with Korea, and
Korea is down, it will bottleneck, which will domino into a massive
disruption. The possibility of that is quite high."
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The slow pace of companies addressing Y2k in Canada would, at least, help to explain the poor performance of Agiss.
However, Agiss still needs to get their act together and provide business to justify their exclusive rights to the ConSyGen toolset in Canada. |
