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 : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ken Salaets who wrote (4632)	3/13/1999 9:34:00 PM
From: flatsville	Respond to of 9818

Sound advice Ken...As a wise and deep-throated man once said, "Follow the money." "flatsville"

To: Ken Salaets who wrote (4632)	3/14/1999 4:42:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

'Supply-chain nightmare on the cards as deadlines are missed Action 2000's report sows fears of major disruption to the UK's economy come 1 January 2000. Bill Goodwin reports It is official: the UK's small- and medium-sized firms are in trouble. Unless they take some radical action quickly, nearly half will not solve their year 2000 problems before the end of the year. They risk interruption of production, the loss of sales, lawsuits from dissatisfied customers, and perhaps, the loss of their businesses. More importantly, these companies, small though they are, are at the heart of a nationwide supply chain. They produce goods and services that are critical to the UK's largest businesses. If they fail, supplies to big businesses will inevitably be interrupted and the reverberations will be felt throughout the economy. Action 2000's latest "state of the nation" survey paints a bleak picture. For the first time, largely as a result of campaigning by Computer Weekly, Action 2000 has released detailed figures which show just exactly how far small- and medium-sized companies have progressed. They show there is little room for complacency. "Let's be clear," said Gwynneth Flower, head of the date bug watchdog, speaking last week. "We are talking about the risk of severe disruption or worse." Warning Tony Blair took the unusual step of adding his own warning: "Time has very nearly run out for the firms that are behind. With under 10 months to go, they have two clear choices: use the time to beat the bug or risk being beaten by it." Lack of awareness is not the issue. Regular stories in the national newspapers, combined with Action 2000's £10m advertising campaign and the publicity surrounding the Government's Bug Buster programme, have ensured that eight out of 10 firms see the bug as a serious problem. But, the research reveals, few companies seem to understand the Y2K bug and its business implications. Alarmingly, two out of five smaller firms that think they have cracked the problem have, on closer questioning, not even got past the first stages of tackling the bug. A quarter still see it simply as an IT concern rather than a wider business issue. Most assume that the year 2000 problem has been exaggerated. And one in 20 believes there is a magic bullet solution that will help them fix the problem no matter how late they leave it. The very first step in any year 2000 programme is completing an inventory of computer equipment. Yet Action 2000's survey shows that among firms employing fewer than 250 people, two out of every five have yet to complete one. Testing Fewer than half have finished testing their IT systems. And only a fraction of companies have thought about the legal and insurance issues of the millennium bug. They are probably unaware, for example, that their company's directors could be legally liable for year 2000 failures. Or that they could face prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work Act, if they overlook Y2K problems in fire alarms, for example. Companies are clearly aware of the importance of their own supply chains. Two out of three believe their firm would be seriously affected if essential supplies are disrupted. And a third recognise it would be difficult to find alternative suppliers quickly if the supply chain is disrupted. Yet, only a quarter have contingency plans to deal with this eventuality. One in three companies have yet to assess what action their suppliers are taking on the millennium bug. And only a third are asking about their suppliers' suppliers. A similar picture emerges when it comes to embedded systems. Three-quarters of companies are assessing embedded systems as part of their year 2000 plans and two-fifths have fixed potential problems in their equipment. But 40% of companies have not analysed whether they need to look at their embedded systems. ... computerweekly.co.uk