The Editorial Perspective

Somehow 370 days until the year 2000 sounds like less time than one year.  The Y2K issue received lots of press in 1998, as more and more people discovered it was an issue they could no longer ignore.  The seminar we had this past month also helped some of our members better understand the scope of the problem, and the meeting included a video showcasing the opinions of many experts.

The consensus of our group was that it is certainly an issue that deserves our attention, both on a personal and a professional basis, and that the true situation we will be facing on January 1, 2000 is unpredictable.  The expectation is that it will be something between the doomsayer's prediction of Armageddon and the optimists' view that nothing will be affected at all.

If you have completed an inventory of all your electronics and are well into the testing phase, with identified plans for moving critical non-compliant systems into compliance in the near future, and have downloaded all the fixes available from the Manufacturers' web pages for your computer systems, you are most likely in pretty good shape.  If you are just now thinking about finding out more about Y2K and starting your inventory (of what?, you ask), the keyword for you is prioritize!

It comes as a shock to many, that experts are saying that up to 40% of the systems that suppliers say are Y2K compliant, fail in testing. So just because they say it will work, does not mean that it will - at least test it for yourself or hire someone to do so.  Those resources are becoming scarce as well.

And make sure that your Disaster Preparedness and Business Recovery Plans are up to date and usable - you might need them.

-Kathy Goelkel Editor