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Repurposed technology who lost their homes. It also paid time off for those who
missed work. "Our staff is always quick to help others in
Finding new ways to use old tools is a common theme need as they contribute to victims of natural disasters and
among disaster survivors, who are forced to "make do" causes such as the American Cancer Society or Salvation
with items at hand. Merchants typically don't think about Army Angel Tree Program," said J. David Siembieda,
POS technology until something breaks, but in some CrossCheck President and CEO. "This time, the support
cases, the POS is one of the few things left standing after a will stay in house. All funding will be distributed directly
catastrophic event. A battery-powered mobile device may to our affected employees."
be the only light in a room. A social media platform or
call tracking service may be the only available avenue for Andie Kolb, Senior Vice President for Business
communication. Development at QubeChain LLC, lives near Baton Rouge,
La., and was working for First Data Corp. in 2005, when
Capoccia has seen some of Womply's merchants repurpose Hurricane Katrina knocked out every cell tower and
their online reviews during extreme conditions. "These bank in her area. She said First Data absorbed many
merchants had formerly used online reviews as a marketing hurricane-related costs and worked around the clock to
tool to get more customers and generate revenue," he said. restore services to businesses, such as gas stations and
"But when the power went out, they rapidly transformed building supply companies, that served on the front lines
[review sites] into public message boards, leveraging of the relief effort. "Everyone came together to do the right
available tools to survive these situations." Merchants thing," she said. "It was about helping businesses reopen,
used the online review space to update their hours, and payments are a big part of that."
connect customers with friends and families, and interact
with their communities. Kolb acknowledged hurricanes are part of life in Louisiana.
In 2016, her small community received 33 inches of rain in
Chris Harper is Vice President of Communications at 30 hours. "It just sat on top of us and never moved," Kolb
The Arbor Co., a senior living company that operates 32 said. "Ninety percent of the homes and businesses in our
communities in 10 states. The company uses CallRail, a parish were flooded. We had to be rescued by boat."
call service and advanced analytics platform. "CallRail
gives us a feel for incoming traffic and knowledge of where One night she went to sleep in a comfortable home, and
calls originate," he said. "Beyond that, we use robo calling the next day she had only her children, dogs, rain boots
and call recording services, with the usual disclaimer that and computer, Kolb recalled. "When you're in a disaster,
a call may be recorded for training purposes." you don't know what you need because you can't see
past that hour or day," she said. "You may need blowers,
When Hurricane Harvey hit an Arbor community in dehumidifiers, mops and brooms, but when people ask,
a Houston suburb, local authorities and FEMA routed you don't always know what to say." After sheltering at a
residents and staff in different directions. Harper needed church that later became flooded, Kolb spent several days
to stay connected with residents and their families. at a friend's house with 15 others, building a pump out of
Using a robo-call service, he sent a prerecorded message PVC pipe to keep the water out. "It's amazing what you can
to everyone on the company's call list. He also set up a do with a little help from friends," she added.
hotline on CallRail to keep staff and residents informed.
Without Internet or cellular service, Kolb had no idea
"On the day of evacuation, we updated our message hourly, her payments industry friends were helping until Dee
and when Hurricane Irma hit our communities in Florida, Karawadra's motorhome showed up at her house. Then
it was 'rinse and repeat,'" Harper said. "We proactively set her children saw a link to a crowdfunding campaign
up a hurricane hotline for each community and published that raised enough money to rebuild her home. Kolb said
information for families. We had four communities Karawadra, President and CEO at Impact PaySystem
evacuated at different times in Jacksonville and Southern LLC, and former payments industry executive Stephanie
Florida." Madelyn Newman, Product Marketing Manager Wooten, who is now President of Script Central Pharmacy
at CallRail, said, "What's interesting about Chris's example Group's Specialty Division, mobilized people from around
is that CallRail doesn't replace existing phone service but the country.
sits on top of it, which makes it so valuable in situations
like this." "They figured out what I needed, shipped me supplies
Taking care of our own and even reserved a rental car for me at the airport," Kolb
recalled. "This experience taught me I'm stronger than
Petaluma, Calif.-based CrossCheck Inc. employees I knew, and my friends are bigger than I imagined. The
participated in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in people in this industry are my family. They stepped up
September 2017. The following month, when the Tubbs and did what had to be done without even asking."
Fire devastated Sonoma County, their company came
to their aid with a crowdfunding campaign for staffers

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