Wall Street Journal had explicitly indicated that they did not intend to step up coverage on the (Y2K)issue until such time as BUSINESS FAILURES START TO OCCUR. (Don't recall if it was Ms. Couffou or another presenter at the conference who indicated that the WSJ ...) Read this post!
THIS GETS ME SO D*MN ANGRY!!! ... Wait until business failures occur???
Here's WSJ On-Line's email address if this gets YOU angry too: editors@interactive.wsj.com
Cheryl
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SPG Y2K Conference & Expo coverage, Dallas, October 22-24, 1997
Covered by Cliff Kurtzman, cliff.kurtzman@year2000.com
For the Year 2000 Information Center, year2000.com
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
The conference was run in parallel tracks, so I could not attend every session. Of those sessions I did attend, I'm only able to briefly summarize some of the key points in the kind of forum that this newsletter provides. This coverage does not serve as a replacement for attending the conference, but hopefully it will give you some flavor for the issues being addressed by the speakers. Overall, the conference had a fairly heavy emphasis on embedded systems and the oil and gas industry, which is not too surprising given the Dallas location. I estimated that there were about 300 attendees at the conference.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: BECAUSE THE FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS
Presenter: Ann K. Coffou, Managing Director, Y2K Relevance Service
Company: Giga Information Group
Ms. Coffou described three key perspectives that organizations need to look at with regard to Year 2000: Computer Systems, Liability and Litigation, and Embedded Systems. In particular, organizations need to approach their Y2K projects as one of managing risks: business risks, personal risks, consumer risks, etc. Unfortunately, most businesses look at the Year 2000 problem as a strictly technical issue rather than as a strategic and business issue. She emphasized the need to examine your supply chain to determine those organizations that your business is dependent upon to stay in business. You then need to make sure your supply chain remains intact, or that you have
back-up plans to deal with a failure in your supply chain should it occur.
Ms. Coffou noted that the state of Nevada has removed itself from liability for Y2K related problems and failures.
She observed how unfortunate it is that few mainstream newspapers cover Year 2000 on a regular basis. The Financial Times (in London) is really the only mainstream publication that covers Y2K on a dependable basis. (I don't recall if it was Ms. Coffou or another presenter at the conference who indicated that the Wall Street Journal had explicitly indicated that they did not intend to step up coverage on the issue until such time as business failures start to occur. By then, of course, it will be too late.)
Because many people in the U.S. are aware of the Year 2000 problem, it is often assumed that great progress is being made to correct affected systems. But this is often not the case. Ms. Coffou cited a Cap Gemini study indicating that only 1 in 6 Fortune 500 companies have begun implementing a full-fledged strategy to achieve Year 2000 compliance. See: year2000.com
Looking at Y2K from a global perspective, Ms. Coffou noted that, in the US, UK, and Canada, while many organizations are aware of the issues involved and are working on planning what to do about it, very few are actually working in a comprehensive fashion implementing solutions.
Continental Europe and Australia/New Zealand are somewhat behind the U.S. While many organizations are aware of the problem, most are only just beginning the planning stage of figuring out what to do about it.
In the Asian Pacific, Central American and South American regions, awareness levels are generally much lower, and many organizations are not even aware of the issues involved and how the situation will affect their businesses.
Ms. Coffou noted that there is just over two years left, which is not much time for a project of this magnitude. There is no time to delay if organizations are to avoid failures in mission critical systems.
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I'll be covering this conference in a series of three mailings over the next week or two. In this mailing are the following sessions:
- Keynote Address: Because the future is in your hands...
- Vendor & Tools Selection Strategies
- Year 2000 Challenges with Petroleum Process Automation
I'll also provide in my final mailing a listing of the vendors at the conference and a comparative analysis of the relative strengths and weaknesses I found between this SPG conference and the DCI Los Angeles Year 2000 Conference I covered for this list in late August and early September.
Our special conference coverage is being sponsored by SCB Computer Technology, Princeton SOFTECH, Strategia, Reasoning, Inc., Edge Information Group, the Forecross Corporation, Prince Software, and Acceler8 Technology. You will find information from these organizations labeled as "Sponsor's Message" included with this coverage. These organizations provided the resources necessary to cover the conference, so please check out their web sites if you have a chance. Also, look for a special notice this week in your e-mailbox from SPG about their upcoming conference in Boston later this month.
Some disclaimers: some of the presentations I covered were given by people from organizations that my company has a business relationship with. Some (including SPG) are sponsors of the year2000.com web site and even this conference coverage, both of which my company (The Tenagra Corporation) operates in conjunction with de Jager and Company. To some extent, this is no different than a print magazine that does a story about a company that also happens to be an advertiser.
SPG Y2K Conference & Expo coverage, Dallas, October 22-24, 1997
Covered by Cliff Kurtzman, cliff.kurtzman@year2000.com
For the Year 2000 Information Center, year2000.com
NOTE: I've only included excerpts from email that is "pushed to me". I've excluded company specific info or info that could be perceived as "promotional". CK HOUSTON
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BOOKMARK THESE SITES:
TPRO Research Site:
Subject 16266
YEAR 2000: Impact on Stock Market & Society:
Subject 16203 |
