The euro - beware of distant elephants

Daily Newsletters

ANALYSIS

"Euro creep" is coming. In fact it's here. The invasion of the euro is slow but inexorable. Just a few weeks ago, there were bookies accepting euros at Cheltenham, and larger stores in and around the UK are training staff to deal with the euro. Talk of the euro is pervasive and the inevitability of its arrival is like waiting for a baby to be born. You know it's going to happen, but you're not sure exactly when, or what you're going to do with it when it arrives. Of the many ifs, buts, whens and hows connected to the euro, one of the first is, "How is it actually going to happen in the UK?" The decision to hold a referendum (d-day) will be made in May 2003 and the go-ahead hangs on the government deciding whether the five economic tests are met. Pro-European government ministers are also lobbying hard to try to ensure that the Queen's speech in November contains an imperative to hold a euro referendum. When the tests are met, the decision will be made and the referendum will be held roughly four months later. Assuming the referendum takes place and we get a 'yes' vote we will then have roughly two years before euro notes replace the pound. And in the interim, approximately five to six months after the referendum, sterling will be locked into the euro currency. It is a strong possibility that sometime during 2005 we will wave a final farewell to the pound. There are many comparisons being made between the issues expected here and the ones experienced with Y2K, but with some fundamental differences. First, take-up of the euro is a business issue with a technical impact, whereas Y2K was a technical issue with a business impact. So you need to deal with the business issues first and then move on to the technical ramifications. The similarity between the euro issues and Y2K provokes more questions. For example, a lot of auditing work was done on computer systems in the lead up to Y2K -- will that information not be useful? At this point you should hear the hollow laughter of a network manager explaining that it is very unlikely that any information gathered culled during the run-up to Y2K will be relevant. Not only was there no obligation to keep the data up to date, but most companies have been through a boom and bust since 2000 that has led to high staff turnover, company takeovers, mergers and so on. Maintaining valid inventory information through this would have been nigh on impossible. It's clear then that companies will have to start from scratch. And as with any of these tasks, time is of the essence. An "Impact Analysis" is what you need to do first. By typing "impact analysis euro" or something similar into Google you will get a plethora of information. The bottom line is that you need to do a top-down analysis of all your systems to see if any consolidation of data, applications and systems can be achieved. Once this (rather simplified here) has been achieved, you should be able to plan how you can best meld these changes and convert your data efficiently. You must provide ample tracking to keep a check on discrepancies. It is not as easy as this sounds, of course.... There is a saying about distant elephants -- "from far away, even elephants look small; but when you come up close, they are as large as they always are" -- that rings disturbingly true about the issues surrounding the euro. So if you are going to do nothing else until the promise of the euro is more than a distant elephant you should at the very least do an impact analysis. If you are taking this seriously and want to be ahead of the euro game, one of the next things on your agenda should be to work out the technical details of the original plan -- the conversion methodology -- and test it, then test it again and again... If there are any discrepancies in your data you have to know where and why they are occurring and be able to put them right. No easy task, but absolutely critical. At this point you also need to take into consideration how far back in your archives do you either need or want to convert? The last point to make here raises yet another question -- what is happening at the desktop? Currently the desktop is not managed at all, and there must be a ridiculously high number of quite large and pretty complex spreadsheets out there, used for business processes. No-one knows anything about the formulae, let alone how to convert them. Here are just a few of the quite basic problems to be faced, and we have only really scratched the surface. But one point in our favour is that the whole (well, the majority) of Europe has already done this, so we should be able to gain experience from them. The overriding message is that what you really need to do is "start ahead of time", "leave yourself plenty of time", "start now", and so on. Otherwise you'll be doing an impression of the start of Four Weddings and a Funeral, running round shouting expletives at no-one in particular and only partially dressed.

Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the Tech Update forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...

3 hours ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

7 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

17 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

1 day ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

1 day ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

1 day ago by via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

1 day ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

2 days ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

2 days ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

2 days ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

The euro - beware of distant elephants

Daily Newsletters

Related stories

Euro fear may mask a real issue - fraud

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

PHP Web Developer - html, css, javascript

Java Developer, Online Gaming, London

Quant Dev, Hedge Fund, FX, Excel VBA

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Business of IT / IT Strategy

The euro - beware of distant elephants

Daily Newsletters

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features