Masters Of Disaster

“When we walked in, a lot of people were confused,” said Luketich, vice president of the New Orleans-based solution provider. “But when we told them why we were there, they were really overjoyed. They were singing, clapping, crying. They were overwhelmed.”

Luketich and other Restech executives have spent the past six months learning to rebuild their businesses, their families and their customers after Hurricane Katrina. Why not a church, too? Officially, the New Orleans solution provider was called in to install a temporary wireless infrastructure that allowed the project&'s general contractor and longtime Restech customer, Mandeville, La.-based DonahueFavret Contractors, to coordinate schedules and progress. But by last Tuesday, Restech employees were also hanging Sheetrock, making trips to Home Depot and doing whatever else was needed.

“We want to be a blessing to them, to help somebody else in need,” said Luketich. “At the end of the day, it&'s about people.”

It&'s been six months since Katrina struck, and solution providers throughout the region are still learning to help customers in many new ways. Frustrated with a perceived lack of help from city, state and federal governments, they have forged new partnerships to find success. Restech, like other New Orleans solution providers, have truly become masters of disaster.

“You become a mold expert, a construction expert, a trash expert,” said Luketich.

Added Vince Gremillion, Restech president: “We have become pretty self-reliant. We try to be lean and mean. We&'ve really had zero help from the state. The most help we&'ve had is from our customers [and from distributor] Ingram Micro.”

Mont Echols, senior vice president of solutions at Louisiana Technology Group, another New Orleans solution provider, said there has been a lack of leadership at all governmental levels.

“Government didn&'t move efficiently before, so to expect it to move quickly after something like this only leads to more frustration,” he said.

It&'s a sentiment echoed by numerous T-shirts now available on Bourbon Street, where one of the more family-friendly examples renames the acronym FEMA to Federal Employees Missing Again.

“We have an opportunity to do things better,” Echols said. “A lot of infrastructure needed to be replaced before Katrina. The big fear is that political systems see an opportunity to make money and people want to do things fast vs. properly. There&'s a lot of wheeling and dealing to get a big piece of the federal pie.”

With an eye toward the future, New Orleans solution providers are focused on selling more comprehensive backup and security solutions that will enable their customers to operate from anywhere.

“The stress we had, which people do not want again, is not knowing where everything is,” said Jim Perrier, president of New Orleans solution provider Universal Data. “The key for [this] year is backup for your backup. If you leave your office, backup is no good if your data is in a vault in the basement,” said Perrier. The levees are not fully repaired and many New Orleanians are counting down to the start of this year&'s hurricane season, less than 100 days away. But, remarkably, there are hints that end users still don&'t comprehend true IT disaster-recovery protection.

Perrier said some customers have begun to second-guess purchasing decisions made immediately after the storm that were required to get businesses up and running again. “The amnesia is unbelievable,” he said. “Management has no idea of what IT staffs had to go through to keep the company together.”

Likewise, Gremillion met with one customer last week who didn&'t want his data at a redundant, off-site location. “We are fighting that fight,” he said. “I can&'t believe you&'d even have a second thought, but he wants to move the servers if they have to [evacuate]. People are still willing to take risks.”

Bill Long, president of Integrated Network Systems, New Orleans, said that Katrina should have taught everyone a lesson. “We had our ducks in a row. But sometimes a good plan can be better. We thought it was a good disaster-recovery plan. We were down for three days and displaced for six weeks,” Long said. Integrated Network Systems now makes sure it has cell phone and other remote contact information for customers, according to Long.

Long is finding that his customers are generally receptive to his disaster-recovery offerings. “Customers are now budgeting from not enough to more money than necessary to ensure redundancy. They are reasonable and open to a disaster-recovery plan,” he said. “People thought they were doing the right thing by putting their tapes in a vault in New Orleans. I doubt [Katrina] will happen again, but if it does and they are away from their offices for a week, they can continue to operate.”

While the city&'s economy is regaining momentum, it is not at the speed many solution providers had hoped for. Perhaps because it&'s still difficult to focus on business when many residents&' personal lives are still in disarray. Louisiana Technology Group&'s Echols still lives with his wife, three kids, two dogs and a cat in a rented 1,200-square-foot apartment that is several miles from the nearest supermarket. His house on an oak-lined street near the 17th Street Canal, now infamous for its levee breach during Katrina, flooded with six feet of water.

Echols only got power back in December, which prevented significant renovations until that time. He spends as much time talking with contractors as with customers. “If I get four good hours of office work done a day, that&'s good,” Echols said. “I thought we&'d be further along at six months, and I don&'t see it being twice as good in six more months.”

The ongoing progress in rebuilding New Orleans has never truly left the national spotlight. But the First Emmanual Baptist Church&'s “extreme makeover” last week—which is expected to be televised in late March or April—serves as a precursor to this week&'s Mardi Gras celebration, which will shine that spotlight even brighter.

Echols drove to appointments last Tuesday in an SUV filled with Mardi Gras favors for a party that night. “It is absolutely, positively something we should have. New Orleans depends on it. It also sets a date for us to get our act together and be ready,” he said.

The Sheraton New Orleans, home of several CMP Media XChange events in previous years, is festooned with the familiar purple, green and gold of the season, even though it is surrounded by several empty storefronts, some still with broken windows caused by looters.

While some likened Mardi Gras this year to putting a bow on a warthog, strides toward recovery are being made. Sometimes you just have to look for them.

In the chaos immediately following Katrina, Luketich told CRN that he would leave New Orleans for good. He saw no light at the end of the tunnel, no way the city could survive.

He&'s still here.

“I questioned in my heart whether or not I was making the right decision staying in New Orleans. I really, really did not know whether to stay or move to another area,” Luketich said. “But Sunday morning when I was at that church, I saw that spirit of New Orleans. Now I know I want to stay. I grew up six blocks from the church. I see those people, how grateful and how happy they were, now I know why I like this city.”