What did we learn from Y2K?
By Galen Collins
Computers have become ingrained in hospitality organizations, and the
hospitality industry realized this even more in 1999 when preparing for Y2K
problems. Fortunately, the meltdown predicted by doomsayers did not occur.
However, what lessons can be gleaned from this experience?
- There were highly visible
professional people who hyped this event as a potential human disaster in
the making, showing little faith in information technology (IT)
professionals. Congratulations to the programmers who made Y2K a nonevent.
However, the fix for this simple error cost $100 billion due to
fragmented, dated technologies. Many aging computer systems were discarded
as well.
- Y2K is merely a symptom of
the underlying quality problems in the IT world. There is a 25% total failure
rate for software projects, primarily due to the high-tech workforce
shortage. How long can this be tolerated? The auto industry only sought
improvements in quality when the financial pain from higher quality and
lower priced imports became too great.
- Y2K is just one example of a
software defect. Most software programs are riddled with bugs. According
to Mark Minasi, the author of The Software Conspiracy, 15% of all
software makers regularly ship products without testing them. How long
will it take the user community to demand better software and to refuse
paying for flawed products or waiting for patches? Perhaps taking this
issue head on will require a catastrophic event like the ones cited in
Minasi’s book: "A seven-year old boy was killed by bad
software in a Chevy truck in Alabama. More than 200 people on a flight to
Guam were killed by bad software in an altitude-warning device.
Twenty-eight Marines were killed when a missile lost track of time, again
thanks to bad software."
- Hopefully, the Y2K dilemma
has enlightened IT professionals to the value of system development and
management, which addresses such things as standards, testing, version
control, and a long-term view of the life cycle of system costs.
So where do we go from here? Y2K highlighted the fact that change is sorely
needed. The academic community can help address the IT workforce shortage by
supplying graduates with the hospitality information technology skill sets
needed by the industry. The Department of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional
Management at the University of Delaware, for example, has recently developed a
new Master of Science in Hospitality Information Management. The University of
Nevada at Las Vegas, with input from HFTP (Hospitality Financial &
Technology Professionals (www.hftp.org),
also recently introduced a distance learning program leading to a Master of
Hospitality Administration with a concentration in technology. From an industry
perspective, software vendors and IT departments need to reevaluate their
approach to software design and development, recognizing that quality,
consistency, and usability are critical software attributes. Furthermore, those
who have learned from Y2K will continuously improve their systems, rather than
react to problems as they come along. Finally, Y2K should serve as a painful
reminder of what can happen when any software defect is ignored or goes undetected.