A Business Lesson from the Millennium Bug

 

A BUSINESS LESSON FROM THE MILLENNIUM BUG

 

Adapted from MILLENNIUM BUG – III, a 1999 article in MDI client magazine

 

 

Over the past few weeks we have encountered skepticism as to the reality of the Y2K millennium bug to the extent that there are those who believe that the whole issue is a mere hoax or  skillfully crafted "April fools prank".  There are also theories that it is the making of computer wizards to make a business killing for themselves before the unsuspecting public found out that it was something that could be dealt with quite easily.

 

There have been wild stories in Newspapers suggesting that airplanes will fall out of the sky and there would be a general collapse of electronic gadgetry and infrastructure. I.e. the end world, as we know it, will happen on the turn of the millennium. Beware, dooms day approaches!!!

 

I agree with one commentator that the drama unfolding around the Y2K millennium bug has more to do with the close of the millennium than with the bug itself. It is really a people and perspectives problem rather than an insoluble technical problem.

 

Perhaps a little illustration will help me get my point across. When cars were invented, they were designed to operate on four wheels.  This was perfect for all users until some dissatisfied customers discovered one day that the vehicle that promised them unending mobility had a flat (punctured) tire. Victims of this distasteful event went to their dealers and complained of, "how they could not get home at night", "... how they missed an important meeting", and "...got terribly wet because of having to walk through the rain". Some dealers heard horrible accounts of "towing" charges incurred in hauling their vehicles to distant workshops for repair.

 

Now to repair a puncture costs something like one $ in our current economy. I doubt that it would have cost much more relative to the cost of the car back then. However, a simple explanation to an irate customer that, "the solution to your problem will cost you 1$" would be missing the point.   The customer was inconvenienced, suffered distress and incurred expenses that could have been avoided or at least substantially reduced if there was an immediate solution to his problem, namely a spare tire. The "bug" is the inconvenience suffered by the customer not that it is a cheap technical problem to solve. The Millennium Bug taught business how to identify bugs.

 

Allan Bukusi