On January 1st 2000 AD it is entirely possible, in fact even probable, that many corporations and governments will start wishing they had spent more time considering and working to prevent the problems a minor programming decision back in the early days of writing computer systems will visit upon them. Today, when computer chips control everything from traffic systems to microwave ovens, just-in-time manufacturing to the computers the IRS uses to establish what you owe your government, we are exposed as never before to catastrophe with the millennium.

The Gartner group expects the work needed to ensure we escape the catastrophe is going to cost in the hundreds of billion dollars for the United States alone. Time constraints alone would seem to be a ploy to make CIO's take early retirement. The lack of "qualified" help will also feature high on the list of headaches as we get closer and closer to the "drop-dead" date.

There is also the minor problem of whether your suppliers, customers, distribution matrix, your bank or the Government will be compliant by New Year's Eve 1999. Put bluntly you could trust to luck, or wait for someone to invent a silver bullet, or you could take early retirement in December 1999, or you attend this Forum and discover how to handle it all.