Fiserv Reopens New Orleans Item Processing Facility
Fiserv Reopens New Orleans Item Processing Facility
October 3, 2005
Fiserv Reopens New Orleans Item Processing FacilityBROOKFIELD, Wis.--Oct. 3, 2005--Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) today reopened its item processing facility in Jefferson Parish, La., a suburb of New Orleans. The center, which closed Aug. 26 with the approach of Hurricane Katrina, will offer client banks and credit unions throughout Louisiana same-day proof-of-deposit services.
The approach of Hurricane Katrina set off a series of events that required a great deal of behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Fiserv to continue providing check processing services to the 30 clients served by the Jefferson Parish facility, as well as others that called on Fiserv to provide disaster recovery services when they could no longer use their own check processing operations. The story began Aug. 26 when Fiserv closed the Jefferson Parish center to minimize interruptions in client services caused by the massive hurricane, said Bob Long, COO of the Fiserv Item Processing Services' Southern Region.
Fiserv initially relocated processing for New Orleans clients to Houston and Norcross, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, but found the going difficult when courier services stopped after the hurricane made landfall on Monday, Aug. 29. According to Long, Fiserv was able to contract with a land courier and was fully operational on a next-day basis by Aug. 30 through the Houston and Norcross offices.
Houston and Norcross continued to provide services to New Orleans clients until Hurricane Rita threatened Houston three weeks later. With the approach of Hurricane Rita, Fiserv closed its Houston operations on Sept. 22 and redirected work to its Dallas center for one day. Once Rita passed, work for Louisiana clients returned to Houston. The Houston work ended on Sept. 30 in anticipation of the Jefferson Parish office opening today on a limited basis.
The New Orleans Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which relocated operations to Atlanta on Aug. 26, has not yet moved all of its operations back to New Orleans. All Federal Reserve items will continue to be processed through Fiserv's Norcross office, Long said. The Fed has not announced when or if it will return check operations to New Orleans, making the future of full-service processing at Fiserv's Jefferson Parish office uncertain, according to Long.
A Logistical Nightmare
Despite being able to provide nearly uninterrupted check processing service to financial institution clients still able to operate, Fiserv found itself faced with formidable challenges, Long said. "This has been a logistical nightmare," said Long. "But everyone pulled together and it was the collective efforts of clients and suppliers that got us through this catastrophe."
When Katrina struck, Fiserv executives immediately went to work relocating operations and contacting employees and clients to ascertain their safety and operational status. Lack of telephone service in some areas and crowded trunk lines in others made that effort a significant challenge that took longer than anticipated, according to Long. "It took a great deal of effort to track down our employees," said Long, noting many had evacuated to other states.
When contact was made, employees and their families were offered relocation to either Houston or Norcross by Fiserv and given gift cards with $1,000 in stored value to cover personal expenses. Fiserv Item Processing executives set up an employee assistance matrix to chart the situation and needs of affected employees. The business also set up a relief fund to help affected employees get back on their feet.
A Second Evacuation
Finding couriers to ferry items from Louisiana-based clients to Houston had proved one of Fiserv's greatest challenges, according to Long. Ground courier services, secured Aug. 30, continued until Sept. 16 when air courier service to Houston was finally established. Less than a week later, Hurricane Rita was threatening Gulf Coast communities, including Houston. Fiserv operations in Houston closed Sept. 22 and the work was redirected to Dallas, Long said.
"We ceased operations and told our employees to evacuate with the rest of the city," said Long, who was once again forced to relocate Louisiana operations. Rita did not strike a direct blow to Texas' largest city, but relocated operations continued through the Dallas and Houston centers until today, when nine of the original 22 Jefferson Parish employees returned to their Louisiana office, Long said.
"We're running about 50 percent capacity because of the relocation of Fed check services to Atlanta," said Long. "If the Fed decides not to return check services to New Orleans, this may be as much as we're able to do through this office."
Several employees and their families will remain at both the Houston and Norcross locations, operating out of Fiserv check processing centers there until further notice, Long said.
Efforts of Fiserv staff and clients in the face of almost overwhelming odds kept critical services alive and proved the importance of the role committed people and institutions play in the face of such a crisis, according to Guy Fries, president of the Fiserv Item Processing Services Southern Region.
"I'd like to acknowledge the many people within our organization for their commitment, dedication and effort during this crisis, but I wouldn't know where to start," said Fries. "I don't ever remember going to school and getting trained for this type of disaster, so this goes to show we all have it in us to give when the time comes."
Fiserv is North America's largest third-party check processor, annually handling more than 4.5 billion checks for more than 1,500 clients. In addition, the company's Information Technology, Inc. (ITI) and Fiserv Imagesoft units provide image-based check processing software used by more than 1,000 additional financial institutions to process checks in-house. Fiserv operates 51 check-processing centers across the U.S., another 12 in Canada and Australia, and a U.S. image archive that adds nearly 7 million check images each day.
Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) provides information management systems and services to the financial and health benefits industries, including transaction processing, business process outsourcing and software and systems solutions. The company serves more than 16,000 clients worldwide, including banks, credit unions, financial planners and investment advisers, insurance companies and agents, self-funded employers, lenders and savings institutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv reported $3.4 billion in processing and services revenues for 2004. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the U.S. financial services industry in the 2004 FinTech 100 survey by the American Banker newspaper and the Financial Insights research firm. Fiserv can be found on the Internet at www.fiserv.com.
The approach of Hurricane Katrina set off a series of events that required a great deal of behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Fiserv to continue providing check processing services to the 30 clients served by the Jefferson Parish facility, as well as others that called on Fiserv to provide disaster recovery services when they could no longer use their own check processing operations. The story began Aug. 26 when Fiserv closed the Jefferson Parish center to minimize interruptions in client services caused by the massive hurricane, said Bob Long, COO of the Fiserv Item Processing Services' Southern Region.
Fiserv initially relocated processing for New Orleans clients to Houston and Norcross, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, but found the going difficult when courier services stopped after the hurricane made landfall on Monday, Aug. 29. According to Long, Fiserv was able to contract with a land courier and was fully operational on a next-day basis by Aug. 30 through the Houston and Norcross offices.
Houston and Norcross continued to provide services to New Orleans clients until Hurricane Rita threatened Houston three weeks later. With the approach of Hurricane Rita, Fiserv closed its Houston operations on Sept. 22 and redirected work to its Dallas center for one day. Once Rita passed, work for Louisiana clients returned to Houston. The Houston work ended on Sept. 30 in anticipation of the Jefferson Parish office opening today on a limited basis.
The New Orleans Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which relocated operations to Atlanta on Aug. 26, has not yet moved all of its operations back to New Orleans. All Federal Reserve items will continue to be processed through Fiserv's Norcross office, Long said. The Fed has not announced when or if it will return check operations to New Orleans, making the future of full-service processing at Fiserv's Jefferson Parish office uncertain, according to Long.
A Logistical Nightmare
Despite being able to provide nearly uninterrupted check processing service to financial institution clients still able to operate, Fiserv found itself faced with formidable challenges, Long said. "This has been a logistical nightmare," said Long. "But everyone pulled together and it was the collective efforts of clients and suppliers that got us through this catastrophe."
When Katrina struck, Fiserv executives immediately went to work relocating operations and contacting employees and clients to ascertain their safety and operational status. Lack of telephone service in some areas and crowded trunk lines in others made that effort a significant challenge that took longer than anticipated, according to Long. "It took a great deal of effort to track down our employees," said Long, noting many had evacuated to other states.
When contact was made, employees and their families were offered relocation to either Houston or Norcross by Fiserv and given gift cards with $1,000 in stored value to cover personal expenses. Fiserv Item Processing executives set up an employee assistance matrix to chart the situation and needs of affected employees. The business also set up a relief fund to help affected employees get back on their feet.
A Second Evacuation
Finding couriers to ferry items from Louisiana-based clients to Houston had proved one of Fiserv's greatest challenges, according to Long. Ground courier services, secured Aug. 30, continued until Sept. 16 when air courier service to Houston was finally established. Less than a week later, Hurricane Rita was threatening Gulf Coast communities, including Houston. Fiserv operations in Houston closed Sept. 22 and the work was redirected to Dallas, Long said.
"We ceased operations and told our employees to evacuate with the rest of the city," said Long, who was once again forced to relocate Louisiana operations. Rita did not strike a direct blow to Texas' largest city, but relocated operations continued through the Dallas and Houston centers until today, when nine of the original 22 Jefferson Parish employees returned to their Louisiana office, Long said.
"We're running about 50 percent capacity because of the relocation of Fed check services to Atlanta," said Long. "If the Fed decides not to return check services to New Orleans, this may be as much as we're able to do through this office."
Several employees and their families will remain at both the Houston and Norcross locations, operating out of Fiserv check processing centers there until further notice, Long said.
Efforts of Fiserv staff and clients in the face of almost overwhelming odds kept critical services alive and proved the importance of the role committed people and institutions play in the face of such a crisis, according to Guy Fries, president of the Fiserv Item Processing Services Southern Region.
"I'd like to acknowledge the many people within our organization for their commitment, dedication and effort during this crisis, but I wouldn't know where to start," said Fries. "I don't ever remember going to school and getting trained for this type of disaster, so this goes to show we all have it in us to give when the time comes."
Fiserv is North America's largest third-party check processor, annually handling more than 4.5 billion checks for more than 1,500 clients. In addition, the company's Information Technology, Inc. (ITI) and Fiserv Imagesoft units provide image-based check processing software used by more than 1,000 additional financial institutions to process checks in-house. Fiserv operates 51 check-processing centers across the U.S., another 12 in Canada and Australia, and a U.S. image archive that adds nearly 7 million check images each day.
Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) provides information management systems and services to the financial and health benefits industries, including transaction processing, business process outsourcing and software and systems solutions. The company serves more than 16,000 clients worldwide, including banks, credit unions, financial planners and investment advisers, insurance companies and agents, self-funded employers, lenders and savings institutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv reported $3.4 billion in processing and services revenues for 2004. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the U.S. financial services industry in the 2004 FinTech 100 survey by the American Banker newspaper and the Financial Insights research firm. Fiserv can be found on the Internet at www.fiserv.com.