The sky is falling, and if you don’t move quickly it promises to come
crashing down on your computer system.
That was the message recently from a number of government and non-
government experts at a conference on the Year 2000 computer problem,
sponsored by U.S. Sen. John H. Chafee at Bryant College.
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If there was an overriding message, it was that too few small businesses
are paying attention to an issue that is already beginning to surface as
a potential problem. And, the experts said the problems will only
proliferate as we come closer to 2000 and then continue as we progress
through the year 2000.
Already, some credit cards with expiration dates into the next century
have not worked, and in some cases caused additional havoc, said Steven
Thompson, manager of Information Technology for the U.S. Department of
Commerce’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership. He said that already the
first law suit has been filed and settled.
According to a study by the National Federation of Independent
Businesses (NFIB) only 20 percent of small businesses are actually in
the process of modifying their computer systems to be Year 2000
compliant, another 20 percent plan on doing something, 40 percent don’t
believe they need to make any modifications, and another 20 percent
don’t know anything about the issue.
The concern was never more evident than the day after the conference,
when an owner of a small, but thriving ski shop indicated that he
expected no problems and didn’t plan any modifications. When asked if he
knew what his suppliers were doing, he said he didn’t know.
“Only four in 10 recognize there’s a problem,” Chafee said, asking those
at the conference to become “missionaries” among their colleagues,
urging that they take the Y2K concerns seriously.
It is not enough to tell you that the sky is falling,” said Kevin Carr,
director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of the U.S.
Department of Commerce. “We’re here to help you know where it is going
to fall and help you keep it from falling on you.”
Carr said businesses that don’t address the problem are in jeopardy of
“corruption of data, shutdown of systems it threatens to shutdown a
number of operating systems.”
And the warnings also came from those who are investing millions to
guard against any potential problems.
“It’s a hazardous condition. There’s no roll of the dice,” said Charles
Hewitt, Textron’s director of Advanced Technology, and the individual
charged with directing Textron’s Y2K program. “If you don’t fix it,
you’re in trouble. It may be the largest problem your company has ever
undertaken.”
Bernard Baum, an executive vice president at Citizens Financial Group
and its chief information officer and the individual responsible for its
Y2K program, agreed, joining others in making the point that the problem
is not a technology issue but a “business” problem.
“It is very complex, not simple in nature,” Baum said. “It is costing us
tens of millions of dollars to fix it.”
Put simply what they are trying to fix is the computer system’s ability
to recognize the year 2000 as the correct century, and to process 2000
as a leap year.
It is not enough, experts said, to fix your own system, but it is
essential to also deal with customers and suppliers.
“You need to find out how suppliers and customers are dealing with
problems,” said Hewitt, noting that at Textron they are concerned with
some “100,000 items.”
And at Citizens, Baum said, they have more than “900,000 customer
relationships.”
Banks in particular have been under the watchful eye of the FDIC, which
has set a number of compliance deadlines. Baum said that Citizens has
already expended some 65,000 hours of testing, has had to evaluate every
one of the bank’s suppliers, and has had to change a number of systems,
such as its network of more than 400 ATMs, three-quarters of which were
not Year 2000 compliant.
And maybe the most frightening prospect of all is that banks, Baum said,
are facing the possibility of a “tremendous run on cash” at the end of
December, forcing the banks to prepare what he called a “liquidity
contingency.”
The resounding chorus was that big and small businesses alike, that new
and older systems (from PCs to large networks), are all vulnerable, and
that all should be paying attention to the issue.
Several of the speakers, including technicians from a number of public
and private organizations, outlined a series of steps they asserted
every company should undertake. Here’s a consensus of what steps should
be taken:
- Awareness. Baum said first comes executive awareness, followed by
acceptance that it is a problem. Then a company needs to identify a
single individual to coordinate its efforts. - Inventory. Reviewing a company’s entire system to determine what is
vulnerable. - Assessment and analysis. Reviewing all ramifications, including
suppliers and customers, insurance coverage, business partnerships and
affiliations. - Remediation. Actually setting about a program to fix the problems.
- Testing. Determining whether in fact the program remediation has
worked. - Review. Doing it all over again to make sure it’s correct
- Contingency plan. Having in place a plan just in case the entire
process fails.
“There’s no silver bullet,” Thompson said, with speaker after speaker
looking at the calendar, agreeing with Deborah Proffitt, senior
technical manager for Complete Business Solutions, Inc. (CBSI) of
Providence, that “it is getting late.”
The good news, however, is that there are a number of resources
available, including several Internet sites that provide information and
help.
Sally Spadaro, the Y2K Coordinator for the state is also a founder,
along with Textron and Westerly Hospital, of the Rhode Island Y2K
Association, which was established to help companies and individuals
deal with issues surrounding the problem, and as a vehicle to share
information and resources.
Information about the organization can be obtained from Spadaro at the
Department of Administration, through Hewitt at Textron (40 Westminster
Street, Providence, RI 02903), or by visiting the state’s web site at
www.riya.state.ri.us.
Also, both the Rhode Island Manufacturing Extension Services (229
Waterman St., Providence, RI 02906), which is affiliated with Commerce
Department’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and the local office
of the Small Business Administration (380 Westminster Mall, Providence,
RI 02903), provide a number of resources for businesses dealing with
the Y2K issue.
