Why haven t companies dealt with the Y2K problem by now?
Software that is not Y2K compliant performs today as it should. There is no motivation to migrate to more recent versions of the software or to new systems. Many lag several upgrade cycles behind the latest version. Most enterprises experience little return on the expenditure. Justifying the cost of upgrading and changing underlying business processes requires a material business benefit besides survival. Even though there are many, Y2K remediation benefits do not appear until after the labor intensive, costly, and distracting repair effort. Nobody likes to invest in old systems when the cost can be higher than the original purchase or development cost, and when the effort merely extends the service life of an already outmoded system. On top of the direct cost there are costs associated with maintaining backward compatibility, interfacing with other programs, and changing related business processes. Many find they have to curtail or cancel current IT projects that can deliver immediate
