The Year 2000 Problem
Computers' Year-2000 problem (Y2K), whereby some computer software won't recognize any digits as representing years in the 21st century, may well strike hoteliers particularly hard due to hotels' reliance on date-sensitive data (room reservations, for example). Moreover, unless hotels' software is updated, Y2K will manifest itself sooner among hotels than in many other industries, as hotels begin to book rooms in the year 2000. Hoteliers can (1) choose to do nothing (i.e., wait and see what actually happens), (2) debug their existing computer applications, or (3) purchase and install all new systems software. Some methods to remove the Y2K problem include these five techniques: size expansion, data encoding, date shift, soft windows, and hard windows. Replacing existing application software with new, Y2K-compliant computer software will resolve the problem. That approach, however, means that all of a hotel's related computer-program requirements be accounted for—which is an enormous undertaking. Moreover, new computer systems are costly, and “off the shelf” business software rarely is of much help to hoteliers. As a result, hotels' computer systems and software most often require extensive customization. Time is short; hoteliers don't have until 2000 to solve their Y2K problems, since a hotel's existing reservation system may not be able to recognize reservations for the year 2000 (“00”). In practical terms, the time required for software development and testing is substantial. Therefore, hotels need to handle the Y2K issue immediately.
Overreliance on mobile payment solutions for purchasing air tickets in China
A mobile payment solution allows users to pay for a wide range of products and services by accessing their virtual wallets via their Internet-connected mobile phones. The use of such an innovative payment process has been on the rise in Mainland China, in which Alibaba and Tencent are considered the market leaders. As this payment solution has become the major payment mode preferred by residents of China, businesses may suffer from the risk of overreliance if the service becomes unavailable depending on the regulations imposed by the Chinese government. In this study, five operation department heads of a large-scale online travel agency in Shenzhen were conducted. This study aims to understand the current situation, including the level of reliance, presence of alternative payment solutions, negative impact of the possible absence of these solutions, and contingency plans in risk management
What do professional persons think about computers
A 64-item questionnaire was distributed through the mail to certified public accountants (CPAs), lawyers, pharmacists and physicians in the Baltimore City area to determine their experience with, and attitudes towards, electronic computers. Return rates were not significantly different for the four groups and averaged 27.7 per cent for all groups combined. The data analyses are based on 521 replies.