September 21, 1998, Issue: 733
Section: Managing Change
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Will Y2K Workers Keep On Working?
Lenny Liebmann
The Year 2000 remediation push may have forced companies to hire more
outside help than the norm. But that doesn't mean the contractors' party
will end when the champagne corks pop on Jan. 1, 2000. Instead,
consultants who proved themselves on Y2K projects are likely to find
work with the same clients for next-generation Web development.
"There are a ton of projects that have been put on hold," says Stephanie
Moore, an analyst at Giga Information Group who specializes in Y2K
issues. "Contractors who have done a good job and haven't gouged their
clients shouldn't have any problem getting more work from them."
Many Y2K consulting groups view remediation projects as part of an
overall strategy to engage clients on a more long-term basis. "We were
already looking down the road back in 1994 when we started our Y2K
practice," says Jim Woodward, senior vice president at the division of
Cap Gemini America LLC responsible for Y2K services in the United
States. "We knew there would be a sort of cliff coming when the work got
done."
But Woodward says that since his company offers a wide range of IT
services, his division will be well-positioned to capitalize on pent-up
demand for other needs-including electronic commerce. "My
responsibilities include our e-commerce, data warehousing, and
electronic bill presentation and payment practices, so Y2K work is part
of a much broader offering we bring to the table," he says.
Lots More Work To Do
Edward Tunstall, information officer for enterprise information systems
at $8.5 billion pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co., expects plenty of
work for contractors at his shop past the Y2K fix. "About half of the
people involved in Y2K here were from the outside," he says. "The
relationships we've developed with those vendors put them in a very good
position as we move to objectives other than Y2K."
Tunstall says that with Eli Lilly's growth running at 15 percent-and
corporate investments in IT continuing to grow at a similar pace-the
company's preferred vendors won't experience any significant decline in
work. "As the company grows, the infrastructure, the amount of software
we're building, the number of help desk calls and everything else grows
as well," he says. "Also, these vendors have gained a greater
familiarity with what we're doing and what our environment looks like."
In many cases, Y2K services were delivered by outside companies that had
already been doing consulting and/or contracting for the company for
some time. It's unlikely that the termination of remediation projects
will disrupt these extended working relationships in any significant
way.
"We're using our auditor, Arthur Andersen, which already has an
understanding of our business," explains Tim Coffey, IS director at ITT
Fluid Technology Corp., a unit of $8.8 billion ITT Industries. "When
this assignment is done, we will continue to use them for auditing, host
implementations and other work on a project-by-project basis."
There also are Y2K specialists who believe the remediation business will
remain active. "A lot of companies are already in triage mode," says
John Grover, president of Millennium Plus, a remediation consultancy.
"They may have their most critical systems fixed by Jan. 1, 2000, but
they'll have lots of other work that needs to be done after that."
Cap Gemini's Woodward is skeptical about that possibility. "I think it's
unrealistic to expect remediation work to continue past the year 2000,"
he says. "If a company finds that it can actually run its business
without an application, I doubt they're going to invest in further
remediation."
Lenny Liebmann is a computer journalist based in Highlands, N.J. He can
be reached at ll@exit109.com. |
