Businesses devise hurricane back up plans

The following article originally appeared in the (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) Island Packet on Sept. 5, 2006. It was written by Jim Faber.
 
Running a bank or insurance company in the Lowcountry, where the possibility of hurricanes exists every season, means having a plan to help clients if a big storm does hit here.

Though Hilton Head Island has been fortunate, as with Ernesto last week, several local banks and insurers say they are leaving nothing to chance. Many of them have learned the lessons from emergencies in other areas and have instituted precautions should power go out and their buildings become uninhabitable.

Carswell Insurance Services, with offices in Bluffton and on Hilton Head, has contracts with third-party companies to handle data storage, phone forwarding and establishing a temporary office if their main offices are damaged or unreachable, said Bill Thomas, company president.

If a hurricane causes an evacuation, all of Carswell's data is backed up on disks and with a company in Atlanta. Phones can be switched instantly to a call center in Phoenix, Ariz. And Agility Recovery Solutions of Charlotte will set up portable offices as close to the island as possible within 48 hours, Thomas said.

"It's very, very expensive," he said. "But we have an obligation to our clients to be here."

Coastal Plains Insurance, which has Bluffton and island offices, also has a contract with Agility Recovery Solutions for a generator and office equipment, said Mike Pritchett, the company's claim manager.

All staff have cell phones for clients to contact them. Computer servers at Coastal Plains are portable, and that data is backed up by a firm in Texas, Pritchett said.

Still, if a strong storm hit, the exact response by Coastal Plains Insurance would depend on factors far beyond the company's control.

"When we come back and who comes back is very fluid," Pritchett said.

Harbourside Community Bank on the island will use its affiliation with The Savannah Bank and Bryan Bank & Trust in Richmond Hill, Ga., to serve customers through a storm, said Kenny Maguire, executive vice president of commercial lending.

Through the Savannah Bancorp, the holding company for the three banks, Harbourside has off-site data systems and phone-forwarding capabilities, Maguire said.

Maguire worked in Charleston after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and was surprised the bank wasn't one of the first places people went after the storm.

"They were just trying to survive," Maguire said. "They were standing in line at the grocery store and to get ice and water."

It was about a week before lines started forming at the bank, he said. With today's technology, that week-long window will give Harbourside plenty of time to be ready to serve customers without lines, Maguire said.

CoastalStates Bank, which has three locations on the island, also has an extensive emergency plan, said Dan Holland, bank president. CoastalStates has contracted out its processing and information-technology services to Fiserv, which has centers throughout the country. The bank has an alternate office in Atlanta and access to processing facilities in Newberry and Jacksonville, Fla. And CoastalStates' toll-free number immediately will rerouted to the bank's alternate location in an emergency, CoastalStates' plan states.

One of the most pressing issues after a storm is reconnecting with vital bank staff. Managers and other key employees have satellite phones so they can find each other after an evacuation, Holland said.

Like the two insurance firms, CoastalStates also has an agreement with Agility Recovery Solutions to bring in two mobile offices within 48 hours of a disaster.

Ernesto was the closest that two-year-old CoastalStates has been to using its disaster plan, Holland said.

"This was a good dry run," Holland said.