Businesses
not bugged
by Y2K

Some companies spent heavily
to prepare while others didn't
have to do anything

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

The turning of the millennium clock was a "ho-hum" experience for businesses large and small in Hawaii, apparently unfazed by the "Y2K" bug that cost the country $100 billion in consultants fees and new computer equipment.

"It was uneventful," said Stephanie Ackerman, spokesman at Aloha Airlines. "We're happy for that."

The company since 1997 has spent about $1.25 million upgrading its computer systems to avoid glitches in the year 2000.

Aloha also developed contingency plans to keep the airline on schedule in the event of problems. And key employees were on call through the critical New Year's weekend.

"It was a real extensive task," Ackerman said yesterday, the first day of business of the new year.

Across town, at the Plaza Clubhouse cafe in Kakaako, owner Anne Ho did nothing and worried less about the millennium bug.

"We are really small," she said. "We don't even use a computer for the store."

Nor was the medical billing company Radiology Associates affected in any way.

"Everything was fine when I came in this morning," said Marion Gramley, office manager.

The eight-employee company recently upgraded its small network of personal computers, relying on a California software company to keep the equipment bug-free.

But Gramley confessed some concern about large insurance carriers whose systems process claims.

"We'll be transmitting claims this week," she said. "But we've been assured by all the carriers that everything's fine. We'll know by the end of the month."

The Hawaii Medical Service Association, which spent more than $20 million replacing IBM mainframe computers and rewriting faulty Cobal programs, expects no problems.

"We've been preparing for this for two years," said Cliff Cisco, Senior Vice President at HMSA. "All our systems have been converted to handle the new date and we feel pretty confident that everything's going to be fine."

Cisco said it may never be known if all the time and expense was warranted.

"Who knows," he said.

The so-called Y2K bug referred to expectations that computers using two-digit calendars might malfunction when the new year arrived since they might interpret the "00" for 2000 as the year 1900 instead.

As of yesterday, Jan Berman, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, had heard no complaints from the organizations 230 members.

"I'd venture to guess that a lot of independent retailers did nothing," she said. "They are so small and would tend to think they would not have to worry about Y2K or how it would impact them."

What small retailers are worried about, Berman said, are the large data-processing companies like banks and insurance companies that direct the flow of cash.

The association, however, did have its two-person office checked for Y2K compliance, spending about $15,000 to upgrade systems before the new millennium.

"I'm sure computer consultants got very rich this year," she said.

Several computer repair companies reported few trouble calls yesterday.

Ron Squire, owner of The Computer Doctor in Honolulu, said he got "only a few calls" from small businesses and individual computer users needing help fixing Y2K-related malfunctions. The calls he did get were mainly for easy-to-fix problems such as computer monitors failing to flash 2000 for the year.

"I was surprised. It's not as bad as I thought it would," Squire said.

Ron McElfresh, vice president of online services at Cheap Tickets Inc.found the bug to be a nonevent.

"Obviously, this is something we waited for with baited breath. Fortunately, it passed with a ho-hum."

Like many other companies, the discount travel retailer took the opportunity to upgrade its software and systems, McElfresh said, but it didn't spend much in the process.

"We updated all our computer systems, desktop systems, data bases for customer information, Web site pages so they would load and display correctly. And we went through some pretty exhaustive testing and had a crew standing by on Jan. 1."

Helen Godwin, owner of Professional Image downtown, fully expected to weather the turning of the year because her office is equipped with Apple MacIntosh computers, already Y2K resistant.

"The only thing I had some concern about were my cash registers but as of this morning they were all functioning properly," she said.

Bette Tatum, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, similarly registered no problems in her constituency yesterday.

"Of course, it's only Monday," she said.

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Star-Bulletin reporter Christine Donnelly contributed to this report.