U.S. Companies Confident On Y2K Compliance -- Poll

Updated 7:03 PM ET September 22, 1999

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American corporate executives do not expect substantial technological problems to arise from the changeover to 2000, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The survey, conducted by Rubin Systems Inc. for information technology and management consulting company Cap Gemini America, found that 82 percent of the information technology directors and managers polled believed that the so-called Y2K bug does not pose a "significant business risk."

Of the 156 executives polled, 12 percent expect serious problems from computers unequipped to deal with the changeover, with 6 percent saying they do not know what to expect, the survey said.

The Y2K bug arises from a programming glitch that could cause computers to mistake 2000 for 1900 starting Jan. 1. Unless fixed, such errors have the potential to affect everything from cash machines to telephones to power grids.

Rubin Systems Chief Executive Howard Rubin said the survey illustrates the confidence of corporate America. Rubin said most companies had contingency plans in place in case of computer failure, including ones that could not completely finish the overhaul of their computer systems.

The survey also found that 56 percent of corporations polled now expect all of their critical systems to be fully compliant by year's end, up from 48 percent in August.

"The critical importance of addressing the year 2000 challenge has really succeeded," Rubin told a telephone news conference.

====================================== End

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 22, 1999

Answers

Right, and I'm the tooth fairy. How much do these executives really know about computer systems? What incentive do they have to tell us if they suspect they won't be compliant?

-- cody (cody@y2ksurvive.com), September 22, 1999.

The survey also found that 56 percent of corporations polled now expect all of their critical systems to be fully compliant by year's end, up from 48 percent in August.

So that means 44 percent are expecting to have at least some critical systems fail. Yeah, that sounds like a bump in the road to me...

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), September 22, 1999.