'Small Firms Too Stretched To Think About Y2K
( 7/15/98; 8:00 PM EST)
By Mary Mosquera, TechWeb
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Most small businesses are too busy worrying about
meeting next month's payrolls to be concerned with the year 2000
computer glitch, said a senior official of the Small Business
Administration Wednesday.
The year 2000 problem is the inability of many older computers to
distinguish between the 20th and 21st centuries, because many computers
store years as two-figure dates rather than four-figure dates to save
disk space. The affected computers become confused about time, so they
crash or malfunction until they can be reprogrammed.
"We can't fix their computers, we can only educate," said Fred Hochberg,
the SBA's deputy administrator, to the House Committee on Small
Business. The SBA is one of the better-prepared federal agencies, with
90 percent of its critical systems compliant, and testing expected to
begin in early 1999.
The agency has created public-service announcements, fact sheets,
posters, a dedicated website, an toll-free hotline, and joined with
trade groups to alert small businesses that the year 2000 bug will
affect them. It also offers checklists for businesses with tips on how
to get started fixing date-sensitive systems.
At the committee's suggestion, Hochberg said he will consider providing
sample cost estimates for small businesses to be ready for 2000. Many
small businesses do not use computers in their daily operations, so they
believe they will be unaffected, he said. But a lack of computers also
makes it difficult for those businesses to share in the knowledge
available over the Internet about the millennium bug.
A lack of financial resources also keeps many small businesses from
doing anything about the problem. Small and disadvantaged companies
participating in the SBA's 7A and 504 programs can borrow money through
those programs, on special financing terms, to fix the problem, Hochberg
said.
Larry O'Brien
Senior Analyst
Automation Research Corporation
arcweb.com
Phone: (781) 461-9100 X126
Fax: (781) 461-9101 |
