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Agility Recovery Solutions Recovering Vital Organizations Affected by Hurricane Katrina

North Carolina-based Agility Recovery Solutions (Agility) has been successfully supporting clients in areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

"We are currently servicing eight declarations and are still on alert for one additional member who has not been able to fully evaluate their organization's conditions," said Bob Boyd, President of Agility Recovery Solutions. A total of sixteen customers issued full declarations, however, many have fortunately been able to stand down and resume operations at their primary locations.

In order to help get members back up and running swiftly, Agility has established a Recovery Campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is located at 9401 Cortana Place. Original recovery sites specified by our members are still devastated and may not be accessible for months. Support staff worked continuously 24/7 to replace Agility's members' technology environments, network systems, power sources, satellites, Internet connectivity and work spaces.

Agility's efforts have restored some of the largest insurance agencies in the Southeast, including the two largest in New Orleans -- these agencies are now functional and are actively servicing clients affected by Hurricane Katrina. Gillis Ellis and Baker (GEB) is just one of these clients.

GEB began taking claims from its 4,000 customers on Sunday, September 4; approximately one week after Hurricane Katrina impacted the area. "Without Agility I would be sitting around staring at television all day, knowing that there was nothing I could do," said Anderson Baker, President. "Being set up in a mobile unit gives me a purpose in what I am doing right now, and what I am doing with my life, by being able to do what I promised my customers I would do."

Baker said GEB will take claims and forward them to insurance carriers seven-days-a-week, at least fifteen hours each day. GEB has been in business since 1933. "This is the only time we have to deliver our product," Baker explained. "Of course we can issue Certificates of Insurance all day long, and our customers often think that is good service, but that's not service compared to what we are encountering now. Without Agility I would be unable to fulfill that promise, we would be absolutely dead, and all clients would suffer."

According to Bob Boyd, President and CEO of Agility Recovery Solutions, "In the wake of a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, statistics indicate that about 68 percent of the businesses affected will not survive because they do not have a backup recovery plan in place. With Hurricane Katrina, there isn't any infrastructure. We are going to end up deploying either ten, fifteen, twenty, or more mobile units," Boyd estimated. "When it is all over we will probably end up recovering thirty companies. It will dwarf any recovery effort that has ever happened to the industry, and on a completely different scale."

Agility has provided disaster recovery services for over 16 years. They have only recently introduced the ReadySuite membership as a solution for small to medium-sized businesses. Boyd says that Agility in a forerunner in implementing recovery change, "Agility has changed the traditional business model of Disaster Recovery companies. Historically, Fortune 1000 companies have been the only organizations able to afford the services we provide. By introducing our membership model, small to medium-sized businesses now have access to our large asset base and more importantly our business continuity expertise for a minimum retainer fee."

"Our efforts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama have restored not only insurance agencies but also manufacturing facilities, construction companies, retail corporate offices, law firms and associations. Traditionally, our customers do not want to publicize that they had to have a recovery -- that their organizations were impacted by a business interruption. However, in the Katrina recovery, that is not the case. Agility's membership customers that we have recently recovered are our biggest advocates. They want everyone to know that without Agility, they would not be in business today," continued Boyd.

"The monthly fee we pay Agility is chump change," Baker added. "The value of the recovery of my business is priceless. On Saturday when I arrived at our mobile location there was a note on the door from a client that read, 'We are glad you are here. It gives us hope.' As an agent, and if I can round up my employees, I am confident that we will get through this, survive this and deliver what we promised to our clients. This is all possible, thanks to Agility. I hope I have a city to insure a year from now. There are lots of people like me who are going to get back and make it happen."

ABOUT AGILITY RECOVERY SOLUTIONS

Since 1986, Agility has been providing turn-key disaster recovery and business continuity solutions to businesses across the United States and Canada. The ReadySuite membership includes everything an organization needs to restore critical business functions, or lifelines. In the event of any business interruption, Agility will deliver the following within 48 hours: mobile office space, desks, chairs, telephones, power generation, satellite phone and Internet access, computers, fax machines, printers, servers, etc. Members work with Agility's Business Lifeline Specialists to develop a customized Roadmap to Recovery plan to ensure that upon declaration, Agility has the correct technology requirements to get their business back up and running. These memberships begin at only $200/month.

ABOUT GILLIS ELLIS AND BAKER

Gillis Ellis & Baker is a regional insurance agency specializing in risk management and insurance solutions for businesses in the Southeast. The firm is currently located at 4884 Constitution Ave. Suite 1-A, Baton Rouge, LA 70808. Clients may reach the firm by calling 866-504-8302.

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