Dublin-based Delphi Software has won a prestigious contract to develop Marks and Spencer's corporate testing strategy for its first wave of euro implementation. Delphi, which specialises in software consultancy and services, will assess how Marks and Spencer can best manage its thousands of daily transactions, complex billing and supply chain systems, once the euro is introduced on January 1st, 2002. The value of the Marks and Spencer contract is believed to be less significant than the flagship name it brings to Delphi's euro services division.

According to Geraldine MacNamara, testing services manager at Delphi Software, a lot of businesses have been slow to prepare their IT systems for euro compliance.

"There is more to getting ready for E-day on 1st January 2002 than meets the eye, " she says. "And whilst Delphi has undertaken a number of high level financial services Euro compliance contracts in Britain and Ireland, the focus on the area is slower than might have been anticipated."