Britain's leading expert on the millenium bug is coming to Kingston to explain to businessmen how to avoid its potentially catastrophic effects.

Robin Guenier realised the scale of the date-change problem in 1996 when he was asked by the Cabinet Office to restructure the government's Central Computing and Telecommunications Agency.

Later that year he established Taskforce 2000 to raise awareness of the issue and has played a central role in raising the alarm over the timebomb ticking worldwide.

Last year he was voted IT personality of the year in a poll of readers of the IT journal, Computer Weekly.

Kingston Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with AZTEC to bring Mr Guenier to Kingston on March 31 when he will give what is billed as a "definitive, no hype" seminar at Ravens Ait.

He will be telling organisations that the longer they ignore the problem the more expensive it will become to fix.

The basic message is that everyone using computers should do a systems audit immediately.

This is essential for companies with forward systems for things like stock control which will be affected before the millennium.

Some organisations, such as Surrey County Council, are already well prepared.

Last month it announced a £300,000 contract to ensure that its 50,000 employees get paid after January 1, 2,000.

Kingston Chamber of Commerce's Catherine Swainson urged everyone not to miss this opportunity to catch up.

"Large companies which have a lot of small suppliers are already beginning to chose those who can guarantee their systems are 2,000 compliant," she said. For more information and to book a place contact the chamber on 0181 296 9595.

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