Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : TAVA Technologies (TAVA-NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (27009)	1/25/1999 1:50:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 31646

Other Y2k related PR problems ;-) (pun intended) bostonherald.com 'The entire problem may become a public relations nightmare,'...' 'As consumers begin to express fears, companies expand their Y2K solutions to the front office by Bill Burke/bostonherald.com exclusive Monday, January 25, 1999 Massive Y2K-related customer relations campaigns will be launched in the coming months, as companies deal with the shift of the Year 2000 computer problem as a back office issue, to a potential front-office headache, analysts say. Until now, dealing with the technological challenge has been a primarily back-room effort - utilizing specialized consultants and programmers. But with only months until the non-negotiable deadline arrives, public awareness of the issue is on the rise, and with it an overall sense of unease. The result: Y2K is fast becoming a front-office problem. "I hear so many stories about people walking into banks and asking the teller about Y2K," said Michael Harden, president and CEO, Century Technology Services, Inc., and author of 'Failure is Not an Option: Declaring War on the Year 2000 Problem.' "And what they get is like a canned response taped to the teller station and read back to them. It's like the Stepford Wives." According to others, the problem is just not being addressed. Many businesses that have invested substantial effort and resources into solving their particular Y2K problem have yet to even address the public relations end of the challenge. "Consumer confidence is the soft underbelly of all this," said Leland G. Freeman, vice president of Strategic Relationships at the Source Recovery Company, of Framingham. "When I bring this up at seminars, I find that people haven't really thought of it yet. But you've got to figure that at some point customers are going to start asking some tough questions about this." Which means that within the next few months, someone's going to have to come up with some answers. Ironically, it's a number of recent natural disasters that have both foreshadowed the potential effects of Y2K, and made people take pause about just what might lie around the corner, Harden said. When a crippling ice storm struck the Virginia area earlier this month, phone lines, power grids and even office buildings were shut down and sealed tight. "People are telling me they're calling the power companies and cable companies with questions about Y2K," Harden said. "They want to know, when the Year 2000 comes, are they going to have power, TV, gas, and things like that. They're even asking workers in grocery stores about it now." The entire problem may become a public relations nightmare, experts say. Executives and clerks alike are going to have to be trained in the proper response. The lack of a public plan could land unprepared firms in legal hot water, Freeman said. With the Y2K problem expected to create billions in liability cases, those caught napping could suffer. "There have been situations where people give the wrong information, too much information or inaccurate information," he said. "And that can lead to a company being in a perilous legal position." Most firms are still working on their fix, rather than the public face they'll likely put on it, leaving many unprepared for the coming challenge. Consumer reaction, Freeman said, will be unexpected when it starts to hit. As a result, it could cause a backlash where companies will be forced to develop a response. And it may all come at once. "By this summer the awakening will happen, and they'll be such a demand for information that companies are going to have to establish hotlines and organize customer relations efforts," Harden said. "It'll be a self-preservation kind of act."