The Grand Forks Herald - SBA on Y2k

Businesses urged to ward off Y2K bug's bite
SBA says 50 percent of small to medium businesses aren't Y2K OK

By Julie Copeland
Herald Staff Writer
Date: Wednesday, April 7th, 1999

The U.S. Small Business Administration is urging small businesses not to overlook the potential risks associated with the Y2K bug. A recent Senate committee indicated that 50 percent of the small and medium-sized businesses in the nation have not addressed the Y2K problem. The committee said that 40 percent of 14 million small businesses in the nation plan to do nothing to prepare for the year 2000.

"This is alarming, to say the least, when the report estimates the cost to recover from a ... critical failure will range between $20,000 to several million dollars," according to Marlene Koenig of the North Dakota District Office of the SBA. "The report also estimates an average of three to 15 days of lost production while the systems are remedied."

SBA recommends the following three steps to becoming "Y2K OK":

Assess your personal and business vulnerability.

Take action now.
Expert help will likely become more expensive and harder to find as the Y2K deadline approaches.

Stay informed about new developments and potential concerns.
Many businesses are concerned just with the hardware in their personal computers, but the SBA warns that the software also needs to be Y2K compliant. Programs are available to check computers to determine if they are at risk, the SBA says.

Supply-chain readiness is also an issue.
Businesses need to make sure that vendors are Y2K compliant to ensure that business won't be interrupted.

Business owners are encouraged to keep the following dates in mind as potential problems: For example, 1/1/00 may be 1900 or 2000, depending on how the software was written. Other dates to watch for include 7/1/99, the date the fiscal year starts for most states; 9/9/99, which is often programmed as a default value, and 10/01/99 when the federal fiscal year begins.

Phone systems or cash registers are also a potential risk because of the presence of embedded electronic chips that are date-sensitive. For more information, visit the SBA's Web site at: www.sba.gov/y2k.

Source: http://www.northscape.com/news/docs/0407/27EE829.htm

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-- Bill (billdale@lakesnet.net), April 08, 1999