The future is now - year 2000 conversion - Editorial

Software Magazine, Oct 15, 1997 by Patrick L. Porter

"A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." Thus spoke the late Senator Everett Dirksen about the way things were done in Washington in the '60s. Dirksen, of course, was talking about the federal government's penchantfor throwing cash at problems as if, well, they printed the stuff.

Right now, I'd bet a bunch of CIOs, CEOs, and CFOs in IT-dependent industries wished they had a printing press in their basements, too. Why? Because a lot of them have waited so long to address their Year 2000 date-field problems that the only solution they have left is to throw some money around. There are only 822 days until the millennium. And while some of us will be whooping it up at the Mother of all New Year's parties, a lot of C-title people who didn't get their software compliant are going to be shopping for jobs.

The Year 2000 crisis is upon us. If you are not far along in your remediation efforts, if you have not begun testing and deploying Y2K-compliant code to support your business-critical systems, then your company and career are on very thin ice.

During the past year I have spent time with scores of CIOs and senior managers of leading companies that are addressing this date-field fiasco in a constructive and responsible way. Typically these people work in banking, insurance, financial services, and at large manufacturing companies. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that they are the exception and not the rule.

How do I know? Go to a Year 2000 conference and instead of talking to the speakers and experts at the podium, sidle up to some of the audience members at lunch. You'll find that a shocking number of people in this profession are suffering from a clinical case of denial. They don't think they've got a problem. Or if they do, it's a small one and easily fixed. Some foolishly believe that if they don't have a mainframe or Cobol code they're immune. They think their client/server systems, being relatively new, are A-OK. And the ones who admit to a teensy problem: Are they fixing code? No. They're bringing in consultants who analyze their problem and advise them on a methodology -- without actually fixing the code, of course.

There's been a lot of debate about the cost of fixing the Millennium Problem. The Gartner Group took it on the chin for estimating the worldwide repair job at between $300 billion and $600 billion. I meet people every day who talk about those numbers as if they're part of some alien conspiracy involving black helicopters. Well, guess what? An estimate by Capers Jones pegs the cost at around $1.6 trillion.

What to do? We at Software Magazine decided to publish this Survival Guide in an effort to help you manage your way through this crisis during the next 820 days. As part of this effort, we will publish a special quarterly issue, called Success 2000, to bring you management advice, case studies of best practices, and guides to products and services.

In our cover story, "The Year 2000 Crisis: State of the Industry," world-renowned Y2K consultants William Ulrich and Ian Hayes share insights they've gained through consulting engagements with thousands of companies. Their article is filled with practical pointers on how to stop wasting time and start getting results.

In "IT on Trial," Sandy Sampson looks into the uncomfortable question of personal and corporate legal liability -- and recommends steps you should take today to avoid litigation.

In "Staffing the Millennium," Mathew Schwartz notes that a crisis for some in the IT profession is a gravy train for others. He offers some valuable career tips for IS soldiers about to be shipped to the front lines. Listen and you may not only survive, but prosper.

And in "Have Code, Will Travel," Upendra Mishra takes us on a tour of software factories in India -- through Bangalore, Madras, and Poona -- and then to conversion houses in the Philippines, China, Malaysia, Spain, and Ireland.

Even those of you who are well along in your Y2K projects will find help and insight in these pages. And for those of you who are still studying? It's time to act. The future is now.