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In every previous recession, including the Great Depression, survivors could buy up losers at fire-sale prices. This kept the losers' doors open. In a society based on computerized information, this will not be possible. Every noncompliant system is what corporate lawyers call a poison pill. Nobody will swallow it.
What, then, of economic recovery?
A New Zealand lawyer has described what will happen.
This appeared in COMPUTERWORLD New Zealand (Nov. 3).
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The run up to the millennium looks set to spawn a further round of mergers and acquisitions. If you are a CIO or IT director and your company is in the mood for mergers or acquisitions then your CEO needs to understand the risks if the target is a Y2K cripple. You may have great computer systems that are Y2K-ready. That does not translate to you having the capability of hurriedly installing those systems in another company. Quick installs eat cash. More important, they need IT people resources. Those resources may be impossible to find in the next two years.
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