Weathering the Storm: IBM Business Continuity Technologies Bring Peace of Mind to Gulf Coast Regional Bank

Business Continuity Forum 

A pillar for more than 75 years in the Gulf Coast communities it serves, St. Martin Bank & Trust Company has 11 branches located along hurricane prone Interstate 10. In spite of Mother Nature's efforts, and in a challenging financial environment, the bank has not only survived, but thrived - in the past year purchasing the American Bank of Welch and adding five new branches. However, while the institution's singular focus on the region has made it more important to the local community, it has also made it more vulnerable to the storms that repeatedly threaten the area.  

Faced with three major hurricanes since 2006 -- Katrina, Ike and Gustav -- St. Martin Bank & Trust needed a way to ensure its critical services remained operational and its customer data was protected in the face of potential disasters. Similar to many institutions its size, it did not have the resources to maintain and manage a facility in another geographic location, so the company looked to IBM Global Technology Services - Integrated Technology Services to implement a "hot site" in Boulder, Colorado. A customer of IBM Business Continuity and Resiliency services since 1990, IBM assisted St. Martin Bank in analyzing and updating its disaster recovery readiness and continuity strategy to include the new facility and capabilities.

"Without the luxury of moving our data to another branch elsewhere in the U.S., the IBM solution has become vital to serving our customers," said Matt Simar, Vice President and I. T. Manager of St. Martin Bank & Trust. "IBM has taken the headache out of our system recovery. It works that well. We ship our tape to them. They restore the system. They bring the VPN up and we're ready to go."  

In the event of an emergency or system outage, the IBM Boulder hot site team is ready to provide St. Martin Bank - full operational access within 24 hours or less - the subscribed IBM System I server, associated disk, software, tape drives and network connectivity. With a dedicated IBM project manager and onsite technical personnel, the solution also includes remote console and web virtual private network clients (Web VPN) - thus allowing St. Martin Bank IT staff and employees the flexibility to physically or remotely access their recovery environment at the Boulder hot site.  

"Mid-sized companies are increasingly turning to IBM's Business Continuity and Resiliency Services to plan, implement and manage IT operational risk management strategies," said Marc Dupaquier, General Manager of IBM's Global Mid Market Business. "By helping reduce the impact of particular risks St. Martin Bank & Trust faces operating along the U.S. Gulf coast, IBM is helping to bring peace of mind to the bank and its customers."  

IBM BCRS has been providing commercial recovery services since 1989. In each of the 456 outage emergency events supported, IBM clients have been 100% successful in recovering their mission critical applications.  

Worldwide IBM has 150+ Business Continuity and Resiliency Services (BCRS) Centers in 55 countries and an army of 1600 experts. IBM BCRS offers a rich set of solutions supporting multivendor architectures and tools that provide advanced recovery techniques intended to minimize the risks related to an disaster or outage. 

About St. Martin Bank & Trust 

St. Martin Bank & Trust Company is a mid-sized financial services institution located in St. Martinville, Louisiana. The independently owned, state-chartered bank began its operations in 1933 with one location in St. Martinville. Financial growth enabled the bank to invest in branch locations within and outside St. Martin Parish as well. Today, St. Martin Bank & Trust Company has continued its growth and now has 11 banking locations across St. Martin Parish, Lafayette Parish, Acadia Parish and Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana.