http://infoseek.go.com/Content?arn=a1379LBY063reulb-19990627&qt=%22year+2000%22+bug*+glitch*+y2k&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), June 28, 1999

Answers

[for educational uses only]

Some big British firms risk Y2K demise - expert

03:52 p.m Jun 27, 1999 Eastern

By Neil Winton, Science and Technology Correspondent

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Almost one third of Britain's top 1,000 companies are failing to fight the millennium computer bug and some risk the ultimate punishment - bankruptcy, an expert said on Sunday.

Robin Guenier, executive director of Taskforce 2000, said many companies had put in place effective plans to fight the bug, but a significant minority were causing concern.

Guenier was commenting on a survey by Taskforce 2000 and leading law firm Dibb, Lupton, Alsop. Taskforce 2000 was set up with private and government funding to raise awareness of the millennium bug computer problem.

[snip]

According to the survey, there are serious concerns about the ability of a significant number of Britain's top 1,000 companies to complete their Y2K preparations in time.

``A great deal of work has been done. The question is, have they (the top 1,000 companies measured by sales) done enough. My conclusion, sadly, is no,'' Guenier told Reuters in an interview.

``Fifty percent are on track, 20 percent will make it with corner cutting and radical planning. But that leaves 30 percent. They are in grave danger of not making it,'' Guenier said.

He said Y2K failures might include processing systems, cash flow systems, or factory assembly lines controlled by computers with embedded chips.

``There's a whole range of things which could be extremely damaging to the point of the business failing altogether. I'm not talking about 30 percent failing, but there's the distinct possibility of some failing. About 300 companies appear to be playing Russian roulette with the millennium bug,'' Guenier said.

Other key findings of the survey included:

-- 24 percent of companies did not start work until 1998, and only 35 percent have spent more than 80 percent of their budgets.

-- Only 43 percent of companies have completed or nearly completed their internal compliance programmes across all systems and 19 percent have not even completed or nearly completed the initial inventory stage.

-- Most firms have investigated the status of key suppliers, but only 43 percent were satisfied with replies.

The survey was undertaken in May.

Guenier said in the report that Y2K failures could have a significant impact on the economy. He called on the British government and business leaders to take emergency action.

Julian Stait, a partner with Dibb, Lupton, Alsop, said companies failing to take sufficient precautions to swat the bug might find themselves under early regulatory assault.

``Many regulators such as the Health & Safety Executive, and the Financial Services Authority (are) actively looking at the position. If they find companies have not properly addressed the risks of the millennium bug, they may take immediate action and in advance of anything going wrong,'' Stait said.

``In many cases that action could include the closure of a business or part of its operations,'' he said.

((Neil Winton 44 171 542 7975 neil+jinks.demon.co.uk))

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), June 28, 1999.

For those who don't follow the UK efforts all that closely, there are two y2k organizations there. Action 2000 is the government y2k outfit (the UK equivalent of John Koskinen), and Taskforce 2000 is a private group, the UK equivalent of Gary North.

If the glass is half full, Action 2000 can be relied on to say it's overflowing, and Taskforce 2000 can be relied on to say it's bone dry. The UK media publish all the press releases from both bodies. You can rest assured that posters to this forum won't miss a single Taskforce 2000 release.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), June 28, 1999.

Flint,

The results of the survey appear to be self-reported, so if anything, the actual situation could be even worse than this survey suggests. I don't think anyone would say these results are encouraging:

[snip]

-- 24 percent of companies did not start work until 1998, and only 35 percent have spent more than 80 percent of their budgets.

-- Only 43 percent of companies have completed or nearly completed their internal compliance programmes across all systems and 19 percent have not even completed or nearly completed the initial inventory stage.

-- Most firms have investigated the status of key suppliers, but only 43 percent were satisfied with replies.

[snip]

It's June 1999. These figures are not good. And Flint, wouldn't you say Task Force 2000's views are more like the GAO's rather than Gary North's? Gary North is a 10.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), June 28, 1999.

Link:

Let me phrase the questions and interpret the answers, and I'll get any results I please. All gussied up with full survey regalia, I assure you. Taskforce 2000 did this survey. They "found" what they set out to find. What else is new?

I'm not saying everything is rosy, by any means. I'm saying you tell me what you want the elephant to be like, and I'll give you good, detailed, objective data matching your description. Not a 'lie' in the bunch, perfectly accurate all the way. So what'll it be? A rope? A tree trunk?

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), June 28, 1999.

Cmon people. Think.

Did you really think this IT project would be any different than all the other failures throughout the history of mankind?

Besides, everyone knows the Brits are inept, hell they can't even control a bunch of drunken potato farmers!

-- Jim Smith (cyberax@ix.netcom.com), June 28, 1999.

Here's what Yahoo Y2K News says... <:)=

UK Wrong About Big Business Y2K readiness

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government has misjudged big business readiness for the millennium computer bug and is failing to get its message across to the private sector, Taskforce 2000 said Monday.

Taskforce 2000, a privately funded organization seeking to raise awareness of the millennium computer bug problem, said the government's message that big business is in good shape must be reversed.

``The government's arrogant misjudgment of the readiness of big business is yet another example of the chaos and confusion that exists at the heart of government in respect of the date-change challenge,'' Robin Guenier, executive director of Taskforce 2000, told a news conference. ''I am tired of the continual confusion of delay, trivialization, muddle and 'don't panic' assurances,'' he said.

Guenier was speaking at the launch of a Taskforce 2000 report ``On course...or too late?'' on the readiness of Britain's top 1,000 companies as measured by sales.

According to the report, 50 percent of these companies were on track to beat the millennium bug, which could be a problem if computers are not able to handle the date change from 1999 to 2000. Experts fear that years in computer programs expressed with two digits like 97 or 85 might be unable to handle the two zeros of 2000 and may crash or produce erroneous data.

The report said 20 percent of the top 1,000 firms would manage to be prepared with corner-cutting and radical planning. The remaining 30 percent were in grave danger of not being prepared and faced the possibility of bankruptcy.

Guenier said the government should admit it was wrong.

``It must reverse its message that big business is in good shape. It should mobilize its resources and authority to identify where the problems exist and to urgently communicate the emergency measures that can still be taken to minimize disruption,'' Guenier said.

Taskforce 2000 said it received 174 responses, or 17 percent, of the 1,000 companies surveyed.

Action 2000, the British government's millennium bug watchdog, dismissed the report, saying its base was too narrow to carry any weight.

``We stand by our position. Big business not ready? I don't believe there is any credibility in a survey with 174 responses. 17 percent is basically pathetic. 174 replies does not a survey make,'' said Action 2000 communications manager Elizabeth Allen.

``We have surveyed over 12,000 companies in 18 months. The bigger the business the better prepared they are,'' Allen said. Julian State, a partner with law firm Dibb, Lupton, Alsop, which commissioned the report, said companies failing to take sufficient precautions to swat the bug might find themselves under early regulatory assault.

``Many regulators such as the Health & Safety Executive, and the Financial Services Authority (are) actively looking at the position. If they find companies have not properly addressed the risks of the millennium bug, they may take immediate action and in advance of anything going wrong,'' Stait told the news conference.

``In many cases that action could include the closure of a business or part of its operations,'' he said.

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 28, 1999.

I listened to Gwynneth Flowers, head of Action 2000, on Yardeni's T-200 Y2K Action Day Conference two weeks ago. She was in line with the other leading Y2K experts on the program: we have apparently avoided doomsday, but there's plenty of serious trouble ahead, and the current public complacency is not justified. I suspect the truth regarding the Y2K status of British firms lies somewhere between what Action 2000 is saying and what Task Force 2000 is saying. Probably not good.

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) now says that only one large UK financial institution is on the "red" or dangerous list (i.e., probably won't get even the mission-critical systems fixed by year's end)--down from twelve that were on the list in March. That's the good news, though the fact that this extreme laggard is rumored to be a very big bank has Action 2000 (Flowers's group) pushing the FSA to reveal just who it is, for the protection of depositers and business partners.

The bad news is that 34% of all UK financial institutions are still on the FSA's "amber" (i.e., "behind schedule but making progress") list. The FSA acknowledges that in a couple of months it will have to revise its rating system to have just two categories: a UK financial institution will be considered either "green" (Y2K ready) or "red" (in big trouble). (Currently there's also a "blue" status: not done but on schedule.) When that day arrives to separate the wheat from the chaff, there may be interesting news.

-- Don Florence (dflorence@zianet.com), June 29, 1999.