INDUSTRY VIEWPOINT - Resellers can fix the SME fiasco
Aled Miles, sales and marketing director of Symantec, urges the channel to ignore the lawyers and help SMEs face up to year 2000.
The conflicting reports from the government-funded Action 2000 and the privately-funded Taskforce 2000 agree on at least one thing - SMEs are as close to solving the year 2000 issue as Mr Clinton is to winning Mr Monogamy 1999.
According to Action 2000's research, 75 per cent of SMEs that think they are prepared for year 2000 aren't. This implies a profound misunderstanding of the issues. It also implies that many businesses are going to find themselves in trouble. Why? Data issues and primary supply chain pressure.
Whether UK companies are coping or not, the big players can at least apply money and resources. It is the small businesses, the lifeblood of the UK economy, that will face the toughest time. Companies are demanding explicit assurances from the SME sector in their direct supply chain.
Such assurances are in the form of specific compliance guarantees beyond general safety levels.
So where do the SMEs go for help? They turn to the channel community.
However, many re-sellers or consultants are unable to go in and solve the problem.
Why not? Professional indemnity. Lawyers and insurers - rarely caught out on a rainy day - are refusing to support resellers with professional indemnity against system failure and subsequent liability. It's a Catch-22 situation with the clock ticking. To tackle the problem effectively, we need to drive the issue out of the legal chambers and back into the real world.
The year 2000 problem is a community issue because no business is an island. Look beyond your Bios clock. What about the businesses that supply you? Your business may rely on the company behind you and the company behind it. This is primary supply chain pressure.
To reduce the potential threat, SMEs should forget the hype and not underestimate the work at hand. Large companies were right to focus on the problem early, but SMEs can still address this issue and ensure that key business processes are maintained. As part of the channel, and to protect future business, it is in the interests of us all to convey this message in our business dealings.
There have been many reports about the arrival of the 'stable desktop' or 'Lockdown'. NatWest has said that it will not modify its systems or desktops, they 'freeze' from October. It's a noble and logical practice.
With the threat of new viruses, regular updates are a business-as-usual necessity. They, along with similar requirements, are the issue's core - maintaining business continuity.
The channel is the vital mechanism for communication and resolution of the year 2000 issue. As ground swell turns to ground rush, let's hope the lawyers and insurers wake up to the problem.