Y2K Expert Jim McGovern Warns That World's Largest Companies are Unprepared for Business Failures

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Y2K Expert Jim McGovern Warns That World's Largest Companies are Unprepared for Business Failures 08:04 a.m. Dec 02, 1999 Eastern --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WHO: Outspoken Jim McGovern, president and COO of CCD Online Systems

Inc. (CCD), a worldwide provider of de facto industry standard

Y2K-compliant software solutions, is concerned about corporate

Y2K preparedness, including mission-critical business failures,

lawsuits and financial ramifications. As head of a company that

has helped the Social Security Administration, Lloyd's of London,

the Banque Nationale de Paris, various Blue Cross/Blue Shield

offices, Northern Trust Co., the Health Care Financing

Administration (HCFA -- Medicare, Medicaid) and the U.S.

Department of Defense prepare for Y2K, he would make a great

quote or sound bite for upcoming Y2K stories. WHAT: Illustrated in the following quotes are Jim McGovern's thoughts

on the status of Y2K preparedness in the United States:

"It is very alarming that CCD has yet to visit a company where

we did not find at least 100 critical noncompliant Y2K date

statements for every 1 million lines of code. It is very clear

that there will be significant problems on and after Jan. 1,

2000."

"Despite diligent efforts on the part of Y2K project teams, and

the staggering expenditure of time and money, an unacceptable

number of errors still remain hidden in purportedly Y2K-compliant

source code. To make matters worse, most Y2K teams are unaware of

the presence of significant undetected errors."

"In addition to business failures caused by Y2K program errors,

corporate executives must also be prepared to handle Y2K

lawsuits. Y2K has received more early warnings and widespread

public awareness than any other disaster, and companies will need

to prove they went the extra mile."

"Recent analyst findings and CCD's in-house reports show that

most organizations have a false sense of security about the

possibility of business interruptions due to Y2K-related

outages."

In an effort to demonstrate that many companies are still at risk for Y2K failures, CCD has challenged select organizations to have at least 200,000 lines of their COBOL or PL/I program code verified for Y2K statement errors by CCD free of charge.

If CCD fails to find at least 50 errors per 1 million lines of code, CCD will donate $50,000 to the organization's choice of a local school or school district for computer education.

This challenge will remain in effect through Dec. 30, 1999. To find out more information about the CCD Challenge and to arrange an assessment, companies may call 800/328-6755 or visit CCD's Web site at www.ccdonline.com.

About Jim McGovern

Jim McGovern, a former Washington, D.C., corporate finance lawyer, has extensive and varied experiences in both government and private industry, as a business executive of high technology companies; the former Under Secretary and Acting Secretary of the U.S. Air Force; and as a military fighter pilot. McGovern earned a bachelor of science degree from the United States Naval Academy and juris doctor from Georgetown University Law School.

If you have any questions or comments regarding Jim McGovern's Y2K outlook, contact: Celia Case, CCD Online Systems Inc., 626/821-0188, ccase@ccdonline.com; or Tawana Clark, Shandwick International, 310/407-6520, tclark@shandwick.com.

-- Roland (nottelling@nohwere.com), December 02, 1999

Answers

link...

infoseek.go.com/Content?arn=BW0079- 19991202&qt=y2k&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), December 02, 1999.


Hmmm... that's certaintly putting your money where your mouth is...

-- Bob (bob@bob.bob), December 02, 1999.

APPLAUSE! Now THAT'S putting your money where your mouth is.

Guesses as to how many companies will take them up on it? "Hmmm, we've already declared ourselves compliant, so it's $50,000 to a good cause if we're right, or horrible publicity if we're wrong. What to do, what to do?"

I'm hoping that lots of companies take them up on it, and I really hope that CCD have to pay out a lot of money. But I'm guessing it will be none. Let's keep tracking this one, shall we?

Thanks for the post, Roland, this is great stuff.

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), December 02, 1999.


http://info seek.go.com/Content?arn=BW0079- 19991202&qt=y2k&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486

-- TA (sea_spur@yahoo.com), December 02, 1999.

Could this guy be Mr. CEO?????????

??????????????????????

-- 8 (8@8.com), December 02, 1999.



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