Y2K: Wake-up alarm for small businesses

By Adam Gifford

The Year 2000 Readiness Commission will this morning launch its campaign urging small and medium enterprises to get cracking fixing the Y2K bug.

Director Clare Pinder said all surveys done so far, both here and overseas, showed small business was well behind big business and key infrastructure providers in working on the problem, caused by computer systems which cannot handle the roll-over into the new century.

"Small and medium enterprises employ 80 per cent of New Zealand workers," she said.

"It's important they get it right. They're critical in the supply chain."

The campaign focuses on five messages:

* Y2K is manageable.

* It is a business management problem, not an information technology problem.

* Firms must start now - delay is dangerous.

* Cooperation is the key to success.

* Others want to know what you are doing.