At the launch of the Last Chance Guide for smaller businesses, the watchdog reported that 65,000 companies with between 10 and 250 employees were still unprepared for year 2000. We are actively looking at contingency planning to accommodate the potential demise of business partners,' says Coyle. We are so dependent on imports and exports that the state of the supply chain is crucial,' he says. We don't have clear information on what is happening, especially in less-developed countries,' he says. Most companies have put the supply chain at point four or five on their list of priorities,' says chairman Robin Guenier.
Surveys are common in large firms.
Good surveys are less common,' adds IDC analyst Philip Fersht. IDC advises companies to follow up surveys with visits, collaboration and the creation of contingency plans. For example, insurance giant Prudential sent surveys to 160 critical suppliers, but followed all responses with telephone calls and monthly visits. This allowed Prudential to mark suppliers as 'red', 'amber' or 'green', according to readiness. But we did give a long warning period, so there was time for us to help and support those partners,' she adds.