Y2K deadlines slipping

Several key industries are now pushing their Year 2000-ready dates out to the final quarter, CHRIS BARTON reports.

Deadlines for fixing the Year 2000 electronic date change problem are sliding.

That's the worrying finding from the Y2K Readiness Commission's latest business sector survey which shows a significant number of large businesses have revised their timetables.

"Businesses have underestimated the complexity of this problem and as they get into the testing phase they're finding it takes longer. It requires more management focus and resource," said commission chairman Basil Logan.

The trend was most marked in large business: only 43 per cent now expected to have their computer systems ready in the April-June timeframe compared with 54 per cent that expected to meet that deadline when the question was asked in February. A similar slippage - 25 per cent now, versus 37 per cent then - was also evident for when business expected to fix date-aware embedded chips in other machinery.

The deadline creep has pushed large business completion dates out to the July-September (35 per cent) and the October-December quarters (26 per cent). Several key industries including telecommunications, electricity, hospital and oil sectors - previously more optimistic about their finish dates - were now showing Y2K readiness would not occur until the last quarter.

Mr Logan said the April survey highlighted infrastructure concerns that were only just beginning to be addressed. In the telecommunications sector, for example, Telecom was "well advanced" but cooperation with other telcos in addressing the interconnected nature of the problem was late. In the electricity sector there were concerns that some of the new line companies may not have sufficient Y2K resources.

Mr Logan was dismayed that some 35,000 small businesses (17 per cent) still had not begun fixing the problem, and that half of all businesses - mostly in the small to medium sector - did not think they needed a business continuity plan.

"We are not articulating it well enough. They don't know what we're talking about - that this is a question about managing business risk, not just fixing computers."

He said more direct surveys with small business groups, including electricians and GPs, had shown they did not understand the interconnected nature of the Y2K problem - especially in relation to what steps could be taken if supplies could not be delivered or if there were disruptions to essential services.

Surprisingly, 25 per cent of accountants surveyed say they did not need a business continuity plan.

Mr Good said the commission was addressing the lack of understanding through more detailed business risk templates, which would be distributed through trade associations. More communication between sectors was necessary too. Many respondents, for example, were not confident of continuity of water supply.

"The local government focus on water was quite late. In the last three months a heap of work has been going on."

Perception is important too. The banking and finance industry, despite showing the best overall readiness (88 per cent of respondents saying their Y2K work was complete) still showed up as the sector where people (21 per cent) were least confident about continuity of services.

"You wonder whether it's the public and business perception of banks. There's some baggage there perhaps."

The commission will shortly embark on a $2.5 million print, TV and radio public awareness campaign starting in late July.

Mr Good remains positive about overall readiness but is concerned about complacency. "There is no spare time and no spare resource. It is well focused management that is required to deal with this risk."

The survey found increases too in sectors reporting they had already suffered from millennium bug problems: 62 per cent of banks, 46 per cent of health authorities, 24 per cent in the state sector, 24 per cent of accountants and over 30 per cent in both the retail and electricity sectors.