Tech Data Reopens Offices, Fully Restores Business Operations After Hurricane Irma

Tech Data's headquarters and eBusiness tools are back up and running following the devastation from Hurricane Irma.

The distributor's website is once again operational with an announcement that Tech Data is now transacting through all order sources. Tech Data's systems came back Tuesday night after extensive work with local utility companies, power companies and network providers, according to a company spokesman.

The distributor's core ERP system and StreamOne, XML, EDI and shop.techdata.com ordering tools went down late Sunday when Irma struck Florida, the spokesman said.

[RELATED: Tech Data Website, eBusiness Tools Offline Following Hurricane Irma]

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

The company also reopened its Clearwater, Fla.-based headquarters and Miami-based Latin American export office following widespread power and communication utility outages. Many other companies in the Tampa area found themselves in the same situation as Tech Data as far as connectivity was concerned, the spokesman said.

Tech Data said it is quickly working with its channel partners to quickly process any outstanding backlog. The distributor had its sales team and others working on the backlog Tuesday prior to getting back online, the spokesman said, which gave Tech Data a good start in getting those orders processed.

The distributor's dual data centers never went down during Hurricane Irma and were running on generators since the storm hit, according to the spokesman. The data centers came back online once service was restored.

Tech Data was putting a disaster recovery plan into effect Tuesday that would have involved using out-of-state resources to resume operations, the spokesman said. However, service to Tech Data's primary sites was restored before the distributor had to go that route.

It's too soon to say whether the outage will have a material impact on Tech Data's earnings for the current quarter, which ends Oct. 31, the spokesman said.

The spokesman told CRN Tuesday that the company had robust disaster recovery plans prior to the storm, but that they were complicated by the lack of network connectivity. The network connectivity issues also resulted in some Tech Data employees losing remote access to their work email, the spokesman said.

The distributor expected its connectivity issues to be resolved after network service providers addressed the needs of area hospitals and military installments, according to the spokesman.

Tech Data's Clearwater headquarters was without power or air conditioning early Tuesday due to an impact to the company's HVAC unit, the spokesman said. Although the office was closed Tuesday, a small, customer-facing unit was in the office.

The distributor's Miami office suffered wind damage to the exterior, the spokesman said, and Tech Data was waiting on systems to be restored before opening the office.

The distributor services countries in Latin America and the Caribbean without a brick-and-mortar presence out of its Miami office, and the site is home to both legacy Tech Data and Technology Solutions employees, according to the spokesman.

Utility workers restored electricity to more than 2 million Florida customers Tuesday, but that still left 5 million households in the dark following Hurricane Irma. Roughly half of Florida's 10.5 million customers were without power Tuesday night, down from 62 percent of customers the night before.

Irma hit the Florida Keys on Sunday as a Category 4 storm, destroying 25 percent of homes in the area, according to FEMA Administrator Brock Long. The hurricane resulted in severe flooding in Northeast Florida, as well as 23 fatalities in the U.S.