Half the UK organisations that expect to be affected by the
introduction of the euro have done nothing to ready their IT
systems.
Some 62% of medium to large-sized companies questioned by financial
software house Coda thought they would be affected by the euro, but
almost three quarters of them have yet to take any action to meet
the deadline of 1 January 2002. The remaining 27% have no plans to
alter their systems.
Although the sample size was small - just 67 firms - the findings
are alarming. Tony Lock, senior analyst at Bloor Research, told
CW360: "It's clear that Europe is the largest market and the euro
is going to be used in 12 countries come January. It's inevitable
that these companies will want to do business in Europe."
Coda's international marketing manager, David Turner, was also
concerned at the findings. "It is a bit of a surprise how many
people haven't yet done anything," he said.
Lock said that companies who had not yet started their euro
compliancy work were "cutting it fine". Many organisations wrongly
believe the euro will not be an issue for them, and will find
themselves struggling with non-euro compatible systems, he added.
Companies with staff travelling in Europe would need to make sure
their expense systems are compliant, for example, he said.
Coda's Turner added that companies issuing invoices to
organisations in the euro zone would have to issue them in euros
from November to take account of payment periods. "That means
you've only got five weeks," he said.
The banking sector has made the most progress, according to the
European Commission. Work on converting bank accounts is proceeding
well, the Commission said, and four out of five ATMs will be
converted to the euro by the January 2002 deadline.