ICL calls for Year 2000 Glasnost and an end to complacency

Feeling threatened? You're not alone. Confusion and mistrust reigns in the countdown to the millennium

A new poll from ICL, the IT services company finds that although awareness of the Year 2000 problem is now high amongst the British public (83%), many still believe that the country will face serious disruptions at midnight December 31st 1999. Almost a third (32%) of respondents feel that their personal safety is at risk, 54% see it as a serious threat to public services and more than one in three (34%) do not feel that UK organisations have the problem under control.

The poll, commissioned by ICL, was conducted by MORI during January 1999. It examines attitudes to the Millennium Bug and aims to identify the key areas which people believe will be affected. 200 IT/New Media and Telecoms specialists in businesses with an annual turnover of 1631million or more and 596 of the general public across the GB were questioned and their results compared.

Jane Burns, marketing manager for ICL's worldwide Year 2000 programme, commented: "With only 11 months to go before the Millennium, this is no time for complacency. What the results show is serious evidence of ignorance and serious concern from IT specialists."

"We would encourage all sectors, from Government and the Public Sector, to service providers throughout the industry to be more outgoing and communicative about the detailed status of their programmes - this would be a real boost to public confidence."

There is a general confusion as to what will be affected by the Bug, with cashpoints, telephone networks, traffic lights and the emergency services as well as PCs seen as the most likely to malfunction. ICL is calling for Year 2000 Glasnost where businesses should be encouraged to be open about their levels of Year 2000 preparedness which in turn would reassure the public and foster an atmosphere of understanding rather than blame.

Key highlights of the report:

• One in three (32%) of the general public feel that the Millennium Bug is a threat to their personal safety, as do 29% of IT specialists.
• If they were offered the chance to fly at midnight next News Year's Eve, 53% of IT specialists would refuse to do so due to safety considerations, as would 43% of the general public.
• 37% of IT specialists do not feel confident that UK organisations have the problem under control.
• Concern over Year 2000 problems is highest amongst 15-34 year olds, with 60% of them believing the Bug to be a serious threat to public services, compared to 45% of those within the 55+ age group
• 62% of IT specialists and 54% of the general public think that the Year 2000 problem poses a serious threat to public services
• 28% of IT specialists (31% of the public) think that the Millennium Bug is just marketing hype. However, this doesn't stop them from being cautious - 70% of IT specialists ask about the Millennium Bug when buying electrical goods or equipment.
• 69% of the general public who work full-time have a detailed understanding of the Millennium bug, compared to 44% of people who do not work suggesting that the message is not getting through on the home front.
• Respondents with children were more likely to be concerned, perhaps indicating that schools are playing a vital role in raising levels of awareness. For instance concern about the Bug affecting public services is 60% amongst those with children as opposed to 51% amongst those without.
• Amongst the general public, respondents from the North were over twice as likely as those in the South to think that the Millennium Bug is just marketing hype (41% compared to 19% respectively).
• Men (49%) are more confident than women (41%) that UK organisations have got the Year 2000 problems under control.
• IT specialists are confused when it comes to systems or goods which they think will be affected by the Bug. 91% think that PCs will be affected, 69% telephone networks, 70% shop tills, 81% security alarms, 72% video recorders, 63% the Internet and 54% traffic lights.
• The public is most likely to think that PCs (65%), cashpoints (57%), security alarms (46%), video recorders (43%) and the Internet (44%) will be adversely affected due to the Millennium Bug. In fact they may all be affected.

The Millennium Bug

The 'millennium bug' is based in the fact that certain computers and software applications are unable to recognise the new millennium because they use two digits rather than four to denote the year. For example '1998' is denoted as '98' and '2000' as '00'. The latter may confuse systems into believing the year is 1900 rather than 2000. Unless rectified, many systems will crash, shut themselves down or simply fail to work properly. Using two digits rather than four stemmed from the 70's and 80's when computer memory was both expensive and scarce.

ICL

ICL is a leading supplier of IT systems and services. Operating in over 70 countries and employing over 19,000 people, the Group's revenues for 1997 were 1632,477.1 million generating a pre-tax profit of 16330.0 million. The company implements IT systems for major projects and provides innovative services to a range of industries covering amongst others, retail, finance, travel, telecoms and utilities together with education, local and central government sectors. ICL services include outsourcing, helpdesks, network services, inter/intranets, electronic commerce solutions, interactive kiosks, smart card systems, digital cities and web sites. ICL plans to relist on the stock market in 2000.

ICL currently employs over 450 people working on Year 2000 programmes. Services range from consultancy services through to full Year 2000 programmes involving date code conversion, testing and implementation. ICL has a dedicated Year 2000 centre in Manchester for testing and converting date code. The company has also produced a comprehensive self-help pack for small to medium-sized businesses, which is now selling in the UK, US and Polish markets.

ICL's website: www.icl.com

ICL's Year 2000 web pages: www.icl.com/yr2k/default.htm

Technical details

MORI interviewed a nationally representative quota sample of 596 British adults across 84 sampling points Interviews were carried out face-to-face, in-home. Data were weighted to match known population profile. MORI also conducted 200 telephone interviews with IT/New Media/Telecoms decision-makers/specialists in companies with annual turnover of 1631m+. All interviews were conducted between 6-11 January.