The Millennium Problem: An Interesting Case of IS Failure

The millennium problem or Y2K problem has been much discussed in the IS practitioner and general press. Surprisingly the IS academic community has remained largely silent over the issue. In this chapter we wish to examine the phenomenon of Y2K as an instance of IS failure. Taking this particular stance on the issue leads we feel to a number of interesting areas which demand further investigation. The structure of the chapter is as follows. We first review the current phenomenon of Y2K and discuss some of the relevant work in the area of IS failure. The topic of IS failure has tended to concentrate on issues of success or failure in relation to one specific organisational IS and/or project. We highlight a number of ways in which Y2K can be characterised as an unique and interesting instance of IS failure. In one sense Y2K can be characterised merely as a technological failure and the responses to it merely of a technical kind. But Y2K, and the responses taken to it are of interest also on the organisational, societal, and economic level. It is therefore a phenomenon of primary concern to the IS academic. We raise a number of issues posed by our examination of Y2K which demand further investigation by IS academics. Y2K and the panic which it appears to have generated can be seen as a clear demonstration of the degree to which IS/IT is closely embedded within modern organisations.