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BUSINESS WEEK ran a sobering piece on y2k, "Year 2000: The Meter's Running . . . The cost of defusing the millennium bomb is exploding." When the reality of this kind of reporting sinks in, it will create a financial panic.
On the allocation of assets necessary to complete a y2k project, see the
California White Paper.
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For large companies, the bill can be astronomical. In 1997 alone, CSX Corp. spent $35 million to $40 million on Y2K, says Chief Information Officer John Andrews, and the company is only 30% finished with the process. In Europe, the problem is compounded by the coming switch to a common European currency at the same time. And in Britain, 11% of British companies, accounting for 27% of gross national product, may miss their Y2K targets, says International Data Corp.
Y2K could also wreak havoc on governments. According to a U.S. Office of Management & Budget report issued on Dec. 16, barely one-quarter of federal systems are ready for Year 2000. One big trouble spot: the Transportation Dept., which operates the air traffic control system. Overall, Washington will spend nearly $4 billion fixing Y2K in more than 8,500 separate systems. . . .
. . . For big companies, ''starting now is out of the question,'' says Gartner's Bace. They'll have to fix date-errors one by one -- a draining ordeal sure to hurt corporate efficiency. That means a lot of companies will be ringing in the millennium with dread -- and depleted coffers.
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