Half of Canada's Firms Have Not Begun
Link: ottawacitizen.com
Ten percent of Canad's firms have never heard of the Year 2000 Problem. This
does not bode well for Canada.
Canada is the number-one trading partner with the United States.
* * * * * * *
Canadian businesses urgently need to wake up, get with the program, and
start attacking the millennium bug, a new survey from Statistics Canada has
concluded.
The fall survey of 2,000 companies found slightly more than half had no plan
to deal with the possibly catastrophic computer glitch, and one in 10 had
never even heard of it. . . .
The rate of inaction was higher among smaller firms (51 per cent) and midsize
firms (29 per cent) than at large ones (eight per cent). By sector, the primary
industries -- agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining -- were the worst offenders:
57 per cent without a remedial plan and a further eight per cent unaware of the
problem.
Task force secretary Alain-F. Desfosses yesterday underlined one of the
survey's most disturbing findings.
"The fact that 90 per cent of the companies are aware of the problem but only
half of them are taking any action is a source of real concern." . . .
Catherine Swift, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent
Business, says she's not very surprised by the findings. Her group, which has
88,000 members, has been getting the word out to members all year, long
before the federal task force was created.
"The No. 1 message in all this for business is act now," said Ms. Swift. "You
don't have a lot of time." . . .
The preliminary indication from the survey is that businesses across the
country have identified the need for an extra 7,000 project managers, systems
analysts, programmers and testers to complete the conversions.
The problem is particularly acute for governments, which possess millions of
pieces of computer information. The federal government alone expects it will
cost $1 billion to convert its computers, a job that will require hiring about
2,000 computer specialists.
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hmmm, I wonder how much of this business will go to AGISS and what percentage of that will be converted using the ConSyGen toolset.
ConSyGen the solution to your Year 2000 crisis. |
