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Agility recovered critical operations at three Iowa businesses as a result of recent flooding and is currently involved in an unrelated recovery in Montreal:

• A foodservice vendor in Cedar Falls, Iowa, lost its Internet access, a critical function of its front-office operation. Agility restored connectivity with a satellite dish within 24 hours of the disaster declaration.
• An insurance agency in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received a generator and satellite connection from Agility within 24 hours of the disaster declaration.
• In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a large financial sector of a Fortune 10 company required 100 laptop computers for use by employees displaced by the flooding. The laptops arrived onsite within 24 hours of the disaster declaration.
• Unrelated to the flooding in Iowa, a Montreal-based insurance division of a global financial services company experienced severe damage from a tornado and hail storm. Agility-provided mobile office space, generator, satellite connectivity and technology is onsite. The company’s operations were restored on June 17.

In addition to the recoveries, Agility worked with 13 other Iowa businesses. These businesses were on “alert” status, meaning they experienced a threat to their operations but have not yet initiated an Agility recovery.

“We’re monitoring disaster activity throughout North America and are ready to deploy resources to members in need,” said Bob Boyd, Agility’s president and CEO. “Our promise is to deliver within 48 hours. I’m happy to say we’ve cut that timeframe in half and have had our members up-and-running when they needed us most.”

Asian Bank
Location: Philadelphia, Pa.
Date: February 2008
Organization Type: Community Bank
Reason for Declaration: Network Connectivity

Asian Bank, a growing company based in Philadelphia, Pa., spent much of the last year building out a new bank branch and, a block away, new corporate headquarters. Everything was on schedule for the February 2008 grand opening of both locations until bank officials received news that phone and Internet service would not be installed at either location as planned until after the planned opening.

Management immediately called Agility and sought advice on the pending disaster. Agility initialized a plan involving the utilization of satellite communication for phone and Internet at both locations. For the corporate headquarters, Agility placed a satellite on the roof of a four-story building, while the second satellite was setup in the parking lot of the bank branch.
 
Agility designed a secure network that allowed both locations to communicate with each other and the bank’s core processor. Asian Bank’s grand opening at each location went off without a hitch.

Wood Gutmann & Bogart
Location: Tustin, Calif.
Date: January 2008
Organization Type: Insurance Agency
Reason for Declaration: Blown Power Transformer

Wood Gutmann & Bogart Insurance Brokers is a leading full-service regional insurance brokerage based in Tustin, Calif. When the agency experienced a power outage due to a blown transformer, management immediately turned to Agility for help.

Agility dispatched a generator and had it onsite within hours of the agency’s first contact to Agility. The generator powered the company’s phone system and servers, allowing workers to maintain communication with clients and each other. The power transformer was fixed 24 hours later and the agency stood down from their declaration, satisfied with Agility’s ability to recover their operations with just one phone call.

“The service has been great and we look forward to working with you again…well, actually we hope we never have to use you again, but you know what I mean,” said Henry Landaverde, IT manager at Wood Gutmann & Bogart. “It’s good to know we have you guys as our ally.”

Pacific Coast National Bank
Location: Fallbrook, Calif.
Date: October 2007
Organization Type: Community Bank
Reason for Declaration: California Wildfires

The October 2007 wildfires in California destroyed 1,500 homes and burned over 500,000 acres of land from Santa Barbara County to the Mexico border. Pacific Coast National Bank’s two branch locations in San Clemente and Encinitas, both north of San Diego, were unaffected. But the bank’s employees, customers and, perhaps equally important, community were directly impacted by the fires.

Pacific Coast was adamant about helping its community recover and rebuild. Bank officials were not the only ones with this mindset. Once they contacted Agility for a ReadySuite Financial deployment, other factors related to the recovery fell into place. A local resident donated land for the recovery and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which charters, regulates, and supervises all national banks, granted the bank a temporary charter for the ReadySuite Financial recovery (in less than one day!).

From the outset, Pacific Coast leadership planned to have the ReadySuite Financial unit open for at least 60 days to help local residents and businesses apply for federal disaster loans through the Small Business Administration. The bank stationed a senior vice president and SBA loan administrator at the temporary location to facilitate loans. In addition, the bank offered low-interest construction loans for residents and businesses wishing to rebuild what they had lost in the fires.