STORY:
Survey finds firms gearing up for Y2K

Results of a survey by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) find many companies well on the road to contingency planning for Year 2000, although the depth of their activity remains a question mark.

With less than a year before such plans may actually have to be put in place, 42 percent of companies say they are more than 50 percent done in creating their Y2K work around strategies. The results were announced in a press release by ITAA.

ITAA's Software Division conducted the email-based IndustryPulse survey in December of last year, sending electronic questionnaires to 6200 readers of the association's weekly electronic newsletter dedicated to Y2K coverage -- Year 2000 Outlook. Almost 400 respondents (six percent) drawn from 15 industries participated in the study. Fifty-one percent of companies in the survey have over 1000 employees; 43 percent generated gross revenues in 1998 of $100 million or more.

Among the more encouraging results, contingency planning for the Year 2000 appears to have the attention of business executives, not just computer professionals. Seventy-eight percent say this work stretches across the enterprise. Forty-three percent include key suppliers within the scope of contingency planning; 11 percent extend contingency planning to all suppliers. Seventy-one percent say contingency planning is a top corporate priority; 14 percent disagree. Another 71 percent of respondents say contingency planning is being conducted with the direct involvement and support of the CEO.

Only three percent of respondents say their firms have completed contingency planning, while five percent indicate that their organizations are yet to begin. Almost 25 percent of the sample have 10 percent or less of their plans complete.

More generally, respondents registered on-going concerns about the gravity of the Year 2000 situation. Eighty-seven percent of survey respondents said the Year 2000 problem is a crisis for the nation and the world. Fifty-two percent think the Millennium bug will hurt their companies; 29 percent disagree with this notion.

Over one-third said the bug has already started to bite, triggering failures under actual operating conditions. Of those reporting specific failures, these included data exchange errors (34 percent), accounting errors (27 percent), errors in "Y2K ready" commercial software (28 percent), errors in tested software causing rework (25 percent), data base file corruption (21 percent), and computer crashes (18 percent). In test mode, 71 percent of respondents are finding failures.

ITAA is the IT industry's leading trade group on the Year 2000 software conversion issue. The ITAA Year 2000 Task Force conducts a full program of Year 2000-related activities, all aimed at helping customers in government and the private sector respond quickly and effectively to the software conversion challenge.

DATE: 1/22/99

For more E2000 stories, click here:
news | events | Y2K | today's news

Marketplace
Books
Collectibles
Celebration Supplies
General Merchandise
Travel Packages