Page 3 of 4
The team split. JSO's Lillo and Snaptech's Brown stayed behind to do some high-end engineering work and Mazzanti and SNC's Motazedi visited several of eMazzanti's customers to address their situations.
"I was able to ask the right questions because I'd been through it. I'd say 'This is very key at this point. Yes, you think you fixed this, but this is what you need to do now,'" Motazedi said.
The next day, Sunday, Mazzanti utilized the VARs that flew in to give some employees a much-needed day off to tend to their families. "They had stuff they had to get done, but our stance was we wanted Monday to be a normal work day. Those guys that flew in, we kept the ball rolling," Mazzanti said.
Meanwhile the VAR still had a big problem back home. The flooding in eMazzanti's office, a lethal combination of saltwater and sewage, had destroyed all the electrical outlets and some network infrastructure in a data closet. Motazedi, Lillo and Brown went to Home Depot and bought a basket full of faceplates, plugs and other electrical supplies and changed all the network jacks and outlets at the eMazzanti office. "It was just disgusting. It smelled like burnt 'stuff.' It was just nasty," Motazedi said. "Our purpose was to make sure their office was 100 percent functional for Monday morning so they wouldn't have to worry about their own infrastructure."
The group finished rebuilding and testing the office equipment and phones at near 1 a.m. on Monday. "We knew when they got to work the phone calls would start coming in but that was good because they were ready to go," Motazedi said.
Mazzanti and Motazedi got a few hours sleep then visited some of eMazzanti's biggest clients on Monday, even helping to move equipment from one location to another for at least one customer.
"We stayed up until about 2:30 Tuesday morning working on stuff. Then they started to prepare for the Nor'easter [snow storm]," Motazedi said. He went to bed for an hour before getting up to fly back to Joplin and SNC Squared.
Looking back, Motazedi wishes he hadn't listened to Mazzanti's early refusals and just went on his own intuition to help.
"What people don't realize is this is bigger than all of us. I was just there for a few hours. It's fantastic to be able to do something, and I'd do it again," he said. "It never even crossed my mind not to go. It's the thing I have to do."
While it was initially difficult as a business owner to recognize that you are not capable of getting done the job that you always had done, Mazzanti said he will have a different view going forward.
"Lesson learned. Never wait," he said. "Like many of our customers, with each passing day we thought that the worst was behind us, and we have such a long track record of success in the face of adversity there did not seem like the need to bring in help."
NEXT: eMazzanti Looks Ahead
<< Previous
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
Next >>
