I heard the program, too. Didn't get it all, but the moderator was Terry Keenan, and the two guests were the CEO of Computer Horizons,-- his name was John Cassessi (phonetically; no doubt misspelled),-- and a "y2k specialist" named Stephanie Moore. They said whom she is a specialist for, but I missed it.
Keenan started off by quoting Yardeni's dire comments of earlier today, and both guests agreed with the seriousness of his assessment. "When it comes to the y2k problem, worry is widespread," Keenan said in her intro. She asked if they were surprised at how few companies were taking it seriously. John C. said that 60% of companies have "started some y2k effort," but "40% have done nothing."
About his company, he said that most companies are "hiring us now for y2k problems, but as we work with these companies we see new opportunities." (Not verbatim, but close.) (It's exactly what's been discussed here as a major opportunity for tpro-- getting in the door, learning their needs, making contacts for future alliances.)(And I guess he doesn't want stock buyers to be evaluating his company solely as a y2k fix.)
Stephanie Moore did refer specifically to the embedded chip problem but said nothing about how that problem could be remedied without replacing equipment. (I think I'm reporting that right. If somebody thinks I didn't, please correct me.) She said approximately "In many cases you have to replace your software and your hardware [to solve the embedded chip problem]."
Another comment John C. made is that there is a shortage of skilled people to work on this problem, and that it's a need with an enddate, and as the enddate approaches, "prices will rise." I felt he was taking the opportunity to drum up business. (And wished it were tpro.)
They mentioned that inadequately as the U.S. had addressed the problem so far, we are ahead of Europe, and Asia is "even behind Europe."
The guests agreed with Yardeni that the problem was so serious, and so expensive to remedy, that it could have significant recessionary implications. John C. said, (again, not verbatim, but close) "We will see an economic slowdown because some companies who have not solved their y2k problem can't compete with companies that have." (And, he was implying, might go out of business.) (I again thought that he was aware this was a chance to promote his company's service.)
I have the feeling that the people at CNBC were really blown away by Yardeni's comments of this afternoon-- that light has dawned, and this is the beginning of their taking it very seriously and devoting a lot of attention to the subject. Tpro has something informative to say about a specific aspect of this problem that is clearly not well understood, and it needs to get on to CNBC. Well, it needs more publicity in general. But CNBC is clearly now very interested in the y2k problem... |
