The year 2000 date issue: an organizational problem beyond IS with strategic implications

Abstract

The year 2000 computer date problem, although identified since the 1960s, has been sensationalized, commercialized, but not yet universally resolved. Although estimates for correcting the problem hover around $600 billion in direct conversion costs, there is also an additional $1 trillion in expected litigation costs. While the technical problem of correcting the two‐digit year field sequence in computer programs to a four‐digit year representation is regarded as trivial and tedious, the more important challenges for today’s managers focus on making the date conversion while maintaining a solid bottom line and dealing with the associated communication and legal issues. This problem has finally been recognized as one with organizational strategic concerns and implications far beyond the domain of the IS department.