Gulf Coast is on the mend continued ...
Some others
Other companies like Columbus Data Services, which relocated its data center to Dallas, are moving forward.
"If you look back over the last 15 years, some big names in the EFT industry with much greater resources than CDS have suffered 'disasters,' but nothing like Katrina, and did not keep on processing like we did - not just for hours, but for days," wrote CDS president Ron Schuldt in an Oct. 6 e-mail. "I am proud of the staff at CDS and what we were able to accomplish. Even as my staff watched their personal lives being turned upside down back in New Orleans by Katrina, they kept on processing." (Read Schuldt's full message.)
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Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv Inc. highlighted the reopening of its processing facility in Jefferson Parish last month. (Read Fiserv's full message.)
Many other, smaller companies also have overcome the obstacles. A case in point: New Orleans-based ATMs of the South Inc.
A light at the end of the tunnel
George Peterson, president of ATMs of the South, a 10-year-old ISO that owns and operates about 1,000 ATMs, took a hard hit. The company lost about $200,000 in vault cash and between 100 and 150 ATMs to flooding, storm surges and looting.
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| Photo submitted by ATMs of the South Inc. Crews from ATMs of the South worked to recover assets at machines left damaged from flooding and looting. Special tools and blades were used to get into the ATMs. |
"We're watching it, and we have efforts to go out and pull and replace vandalized units," Peterson said last week. "We have 70 or 80 locations that we're still trying to get in contact with. But we're also watching the city of New Orleans come back to life. We have a route now again in New Orleans, and pretty soon Gentilly and Mid-City will be coming back online."
"We're basically just waiting for phone lines right now," he said. "One of the downsides we're having is that as our customers are cleaning out their stores, they're throwing their ATMs out on sidewalk. We're driving by and seeing ATMs on the side of the road."
But Peterson said his company is one of the "fortunate" ones. With the site of his Jefferson Parish office spared great damage, and 80 percent of his ATMs back online or replaced, Peterson is out of the weeds. "Recovery efforts have come a long way. We closed out September at 40 percent of pre-Katrina revenue, and we closed October at 80 percent. And because of the recovery efforts down here, the transaction volume has increased."
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| Photo submitted by ATMs of the South Inc. Village Square, a strip mall in St. Bernard Parish that burned practically to the ground. |
Machines that were pulling 300 transactions in a month are now pulling 1,200.
But the return is bitter sweet.
Driving through town, Peterson still sees devastation all around. The images of gutted convenience stores and mangled ATMs tell a story words cannot.
"I lost three ATMs to fire. I had one merchant that was murdered. It's been hard."
