InformationWeek

January 5, 1998

Secret CIO: 1998: Year Of Conversions

Making systems comply with the year 2000 and Europe's new currency should keep IS departments busy this year

t's hard to believe that another year has floated away from us into the great byte bucket in the sky. Why can't the calendar just once take the inexorable march of time and recast it into the mold of a Microsoft applications release? Then we could delay New Year's Day until, say, the Fourth of July, and gain another six months or so in our lives. It would be better than having 26 hours in a day to get everything co mpleted on our To Do lists.

A lot of people in 1998 will require more than 26 hours a day to deal with the year 2000 problem. More than a little of that time will be spent making presentations to concerned management about what is being done to keep their companies from the sorts of evils that, in comparison, make a horror movie look docile. Some of the problems are real and some are hype. A lot of the hype comes from consultants who stand to make a bundle on everyone's concern; but for many people, the problem is authentic enough.

I had lunch recently with a respected CIO of a major financial institution who bemoaned that the year 2000 was not only eating away at his applications budget, but was also making an old man of him. He forecasts that even if people in his industry are successful in keeping their systems running, the stress is going to cause more than a few of them to retire around the turn of the millennium, hanging up their spurs with one last victory, joining those who are going to get f ired for failing to protect their companies.

Another friend of mine, who works for a manufacturing company that is installing SAP, says he's not worrying a bit about his business systems-but is terrified of what will happen to the process-control computers. One of his solutions is to outsource as much of the problem as possible, figuring that at least he will have someone with whom to share the blame if things don't work.

A stealth issue for the new year is the Euro. It has had a lot less publicity, but some people are more worried about it than about the millennium bug. Anyone who manufactures or sells in Europe faces a massive currency conversion that must be completed by the time the champagne toasts usher in 1999.

Adding to the complexity is the fact that dual money operations will be required until 2002 (by which point, no doubt, most of our year 2000 problems will finally get fixed). The fun will include changing all sorts of forms, reports, and automated teller machines. And while the Euro , like the U.S. dollar, will use fractional units (how else could we have sale items advertised at $49.99?), some European currencies, such as the lira, are expressed in whole numbers only. Think of the bliss in that one. Imagine all of those integer programs that will now have to deal with decimals.

On the bright side for 1998, however, is all of the excitement over electronic commerce. Walk into a CIO meeting today without being able to talk about your new competition-killing Web site, and you'll be relegated to the edge of the room, amid the little tray tables for the used cocktail glasses and plates. Granted, there are only a few sites, such as Dell Computer and Amazon.com, that actually are drawing sizable business, but everyone wants to be in on the party. Anticipate a big, big push from the executive suites on this one.

Here's hoping you have a great 1998. It looks like there is more than enough excitement on the horizon to keep all of us gainfully occupied and free from boredom. And we haven't even talked about Windows 98 and NT 5.0.

Herbert W. Lovelace is CIO at a multibillion-dollar international company. Herb practices his day job under an alias and has changed the names of colleagues to protect the guilty. You can send him E-mail at secret@cmp.com . He'll provide real answers -- and whimsical comments -- to your questions on InformationWeek Online at techweb.cmp.com/iw/current/secret.htm .

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