The hype surrounding Y2K is clearing a path for communicators to educate key audiences about the critical issues and be a source of checks-and-balances, ensuring that companies and organizations are minding their infrastructure Ps and Qs for the turn-of-the-century.
Relying on the media's first wave of Y2K coverage for information would leave us with two very disparate takes on the issue: first, that the world is filled with alarmists stockpiling food and readying for an electronic Armageddon; and second, that Y2K is a technical issue so complex it's best left to IT experts, leaving the masses to pick up whatever pieces they can comprehend.
In both of these scenarios, however, communications is left behind.
But those who work in communications aren't buying into those versions. Y2K pioneers range from audio and video news distributor Medialink (just named by Forbes one of America's "200 Best Small Companies") to massive networks such as the Federal Reserve System.
"In our Y2K planning, communications is being seen as a line function," says Lynn Fox, a spokesperson for the Federal Reserve Board, which regulates the nation's 12 federal reserve banks. "Communications will be what conveys how prepared we are for this."
Out of 1,700 employees, Fox is one of about 50 Federal Reserve System spokespeople/liaisons within a system that's expected to spend $50 million this year alone to make sure it's ready for the millennium.
Part of those communications efforts includes a http://www.federalreserve.gov Y2K site area, launched in April 1997, devoted to educating visitors about federal reserve readiness.
The site seeks to deviate from many of the Y2K myths - from fears of transportation failures to massive computer crashes - which have done much to truncate the issue and do little to clarify it.
For instance, logging onto their site provides information on how the system is testing application interfaces to guarantee that its systems such as Fedwire, which controls electronic payments, will function when the Year 2000 arrives.
But not everyone involved in tackling Y2K concerns has the resources, nor the sprawling system, the feds have. Communicators must realize that even if IT says the issue is under control, it is your job to educate clients and customers about what your company is doing and to instill them with confidence about your preparedness.
You also will need to make sure the companies with which you regularly work or on whom you depend for your own corporate needs are up to speed in Y2K compliance.
Medialink, for instance, isn't just concerned about its own compliance. It is seeking guarantees from partners, such as the Associated Press which provides Medialink with a connection to 700 national TV stations, and tracking vendors, such as Nielsen's Sigma Electronic Monitoring Service, that Y2K technical problems won't hinder Medialink's ability to serve its more than 1,500 clients.
Not Howard's End
Cleveland-based Edward Howard & Co., a firm that cut its teeth in IR and will bill $6 million in fee revenue this year, is now earning its stripes in Y2K communications. With a client list which includes heavies such as GenCorp., Fairlawn, Ohio, and 3M, St. Paul, Minn., the 49-person firm is experiencing firsthand the many facets of Y2K concerns. Its financial communications expertise now requires more than just a passing understanding of new SEC regulations surrounding Y2K disclosure since it must counsel clients on the regs.
Each year, the firm oversees between 18 and 20 annual reports, documents which now must address a public company's Y2K costs and contingency plans. Some publicly-held companies have feared the new regulations open them up to litigation. This mirrors, ironically, the way companies addressed crisis management with such reticence because they saw such preparation as an admission that their businesses were vulnerable.
"Y2K is a subject that comes up on a regular basis," says Edwards and Howard Chairman and CEO Stanley Ulchaker.
He won't disclose his company's specific Y2K communications work or which of its 80-some clients have required that kind of expertise, but Ulchaker admits Y2K communications is likely to be the bread-and-butter for some consultants.
"I think any company is going to want to convey to stockholders and other audiences how they are addressing the Y2K issue," agrees Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, New York.
Hormats is a member of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide's new International Advisory Board and sees Y2K as an issue that will greatly affect communications from both an agency and corporate perspective.
As a discipline which can affect behavior and attitudes, communicators can position themselves as pioneers who move the needle from public hysteria to public understanding.
Not far outside Washington, D.C., we came across a mom-and-pop shop promoting that its large inventory of wood stoves will be for sale when utilities fail on Jan. 1, 2000, and people need heat for their homes.
That might seem a far-fetched advertising ploy, but this fear has become the essence of much of the public perception of Y2K and will likely be part of the impetus for communicators stepping up to the issues management plate, PR NEWS sources say.
Are You a Y2K Communicator?
Y2K likely will be one of the most significant tests of customer communications. In Newton, Mass., social-science consulting firm DecisionQuest, is getting ink for doing what nobody else is reportedly doing in the public sector: gauging public perceptions about Y2K issues and measuring whether customers are likely to hold companies responsible for Y2K problems.
In polling completed last month, 51 percent of 1,000 Americans surveyed said they believe that they will be "personally affected" by Y2K problems, says David Davis, senior VP.
But companies, Davis adds, don't seem to be assuaging customers' fears. Davis asked how many of the 150 National Law Journal conferees at a recent New York event if they had received correspondence from a bank, telecommunications provider or insurance company about Y2K plans.
Three people raised their hands.
"People seem to believe it's a problem that should be fixed, but they don't think it will be fixed," adds Davis.
The fearful aren't just average folks, either: Medialink CEO Laurence Moskowitz shares the story of a large mutual fund investor who is making withdrawals from his personal bank account so he will have several shoe boxes full of cash, just in case. "And this is a Harvard MBA," Moskowitz says. (Edward Howard, 216/781-2400; Federal Reserve Board, 202/452-3204; Goldman Sachs, 212/902-9224; DecisionQuest, 617/332-8900; Medialink, 212/682-8300)
What They Say About Y2K
If you don't think communicators can help pave the way toward helping outsiders understand how organizations and companies are readying for the millennium, consider that a new survey shows that most American CIOs, themselves, aren't convinced that businesses are doing all they can to inform key publics about compliance.
According to the results of a KnowPulseSM poll of 330 Americans CIOs released last month, 77 percent of these executives recommend that Americans take it upon themselves to investigate their banks' Y2K compliance to ensure security.
If that's not enough proof that customer communications might be lacking in some industries when it comes to Y2K education, we don't know what is.
Source: KnowPulseSM, 888/899-1495