Consulting firms see cash in the euro

Companies are embracing the transition to a single euro currency in the early stages of the three-year program, and the changeover is expected to bring a surge of business for IT consulting companies.

Chief financial officers from 59 European Fortune 1000 companies were surveyed last week on whether they used a dual currency system, which percentage of financial transactions are performed exclusively with the new euro currency, and asked about their psychological commitment to using the new single currency, according to a poll commissioned by Sapiens International, an enterprise software solutions vendor.

Last January, 11 European Monetary nations were required to transition to a single monetary system over the next three years.

The poll found that 87 percent of survey participants were either using a dual currency system, or exclusively using the new currency, when handling transactions during the first three months of the program. The survey results will be presented May 11 at the Association of Monetary Unions of Europe in Spain.

These companies used the new currency for such electronic transactions as payroll, ordering office supplies, and wire transfers. The transactions were handled electronically, because no hard currency has yet been printed for the euro.

Like Sapiens, companies such as IBM and SAP expect a surge in business as companies transition to a single European currency. IBM, for example, anticipates many companies will need to replace computer systems with updated software--creating a $70 billion to $80 billion market for IT in Europe over the next several years.

The survey found that 51 percent of financial services and insurance companies polled had switched to using electronic euro transactions exclusively. Manufacturing and telecommunications companies, however, were a bit slower with 36 percent and 31 percent, respectively.

"The financial community's rise to the challenge is not surprising. In many cases, their transitions began several years ago in anticipation of the EMU," Amir Barnea, Sapiens' Euro Project manager, said in a statement.