1999
So, you think you are ready for the Millennium? – No time for complacency warns PA Consulting Group
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19 May 1999
Organisations that believe their systems will be ready in time for the Millennium should not be complacent, but should switch to the final phase of business continuity planning now to counter the real threats to their business, warns PA Consulting Group. In practical terms, this means recognising that the threats posed by the Millennium present major risks to the functioning of the business before, during and after the Millennium changeover.
PA has tracked the progress of several UK organisations over the last three years and reveals that almost half or those in its sample have now reached what it calls the ‘business continuity planning’ phase.
Fons Kuijpers, Member of PA’s Management Group, commented: "Organisations must ensure that they know exactly what is critical to the success of their business and then prioritise their effort on that basis. They must focus on the real risks to their businesses, most of which will be outside their direct control, such as utilities or their supply chain. For most organisations this means planning for the transition period around midnight on 31st December; establishing a Millennium-operating regime; and putting in place effective crisis management mechanisms."
Fons Kuijpers continued: "Many organisations thought compliance would be the home stretch of their Millennium programmes. But many now realise that their compliance work will prove not to have fixed the problem fully, some problems will have been overlooked and some planned fixes will not be completed in time. Existing disaster recovery plans may not help unless there is confidence that the alternative arrangements do not have Millennium-related problems. Business continuity planning is therefore essential"
Firms that are behind in their Millennium programmes need to realise that they cannot fix everything. They will need to prioritise which systems are essential and focus all their energies onto fixing these. In addition, they have no choice but to start building comprehensive contingency plans. Fons Kuijpers outlined the key activities businesses should be undertaking as part of their continuity plans:
- Business-critical systems must be tested for Millennium compliance
- Businesses must identify potential risk areas outside their direct control (eg utilities, their supply chain etc)
- External risks must then be prioritised and contingency plans should be developed in case of failure according to agreed priorities
- Crisis management teams must be appointed with clear responsibility to deal with millennium issues before, during and after the millennium changeover
- Millennium-operating regimes must be defined along with detailed transition plans.
Copies of the report based on the tracking exercise, ‘Defusing the Millennium Bomb: Benchmarking progress towards Millennium compliance, Business continuity planning in 1999’, are available from PA Consulting Group on +44 20 7333 9000.
For more information, please contact:
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| PA Information Enquiry |
| PA Consulting Group |
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| United Kingdom |
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Tel: +44 20 730 9000 |
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Notes to editors
About the research
‘Defusing the Millennium Bomb: Benchmarking progress towards Millennium compliance, Business continuity planning in 1999’ outlines the results of the third series of Millennium Bomb Focus Group interviews carried out by PA to track the progress of Millennium preparation over the last three years. The interviews took place during December 1998 and January 1999 with 27 organisations from the public and private sectors. Interviewees covered a wide variety of functions, ranging from business managers to global Millennium project managers and IT programme managers.
The Millennium problem arises from a deceptively simple issue. Generally, computer systems have been written to recognise two digits for the year component of the date. For most applications in the twentieth century this is fine. However, as the year 2000 approaches, systems now have to interpret ‘00’. Many will interpret this as 1900 rather than 2000, causing problems in validation, display, calculation, storage and printing.
Business continuity planning aims to protect an organisation against residual risk and includes activities such as transition planning for the period around midnight on 31 December 1999; establishing a Millennium-operating regime; and putting in place effective crisis management teams for the 1999/2000 crossover. A Millennium-operating regime is a temporary change in normal operating procedures that is carried out to enable the business to become more resilient to Millennium threats.
PA Consulting Group is a leading management, systems and technology consultancy, with a unique commitment to the integration of these capabilities. Established almost 60 years ago, and operating worldwide from around 50 offices in some 20 countries, PA draws on the knowledge and experience of about 2,700 employees, whose skills span the initial generation of ideas and insights all the way through to detailed implementation, including:
- Strategic management, and managing for shareholder value
- Accelerating business growth, especially through innovation
- Improving business design, including customer relationship management, enterprise-wide systems for the supply chain, and full e-business solutions
- Mobilising human resources
- Delivering projects and programmes.
PA focuses on creating benefits for clients rather than merely proposing them, and this focus is supported by an outstanding implementation track record in every major industry and for governments around the world. PA also develops leading edge technology both for its clients and within its own portfolio of venture companies in areas ranging from software to wireless technology to life sciences.
PA distinguishes itself from its competitors through the range and quality of its people, its development and use of technology, and also its independence. A's work in every area from strategic management to project delivery is enhanced by its expertise in all the other areas. PA's consultants, whatever their special skills, all share:
- A highly commercial approach to clients' problems and opportunities
- A technologically sophisticated view of both the industry sectors we serve and the solutions we deliver
- A culture of respect, collaboration and flexibility in working with our clients to achieve their aims.
Adding value to clients, from insight to implementation, is ingrained at PA through our culture and tradition, and also through our compensation and ownership philosophy. PA is owned by its employees, with everyone at PA entitled to a stake in the company, and our reward systems are also directly related to the results created for clients. This builds a virtuous circle, as we know that the only way we can create value for ourselves is by creating value for our clients first. The value we create for clients and within PA helps us to attract the best people in the world to PA, and to invest in more leading edge technologies, thereby allowing us to increase further the value we bring to our clients. We are proud that our clients say "PA makes it happen"
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