Hancock Bank, based in Gulfport, MS, had selected an enterprise document management system from OnBase, a Microsoft Gold Certified partner, before Katrina. But it hadn’t installed the system, Michael K. Croal, the former senior vice president and director of corporate loan operations told an audience at Gartner’s financial services summit in Boston a few weeks ago.

The bank focuses on commercial real estate, which requires extensive documentation for every deal. When the hurricane hit, the loan vault at the headquarters office was at capacity. Rated to withstand high winds, the bank hadn’t calculated on the oddities of nature – the winds blew apart a small building in front of the bank, sending timbers crashing through its windows, followed immediately by rain.

Emergency generators were on the top floor and got soaked when the roof blew off. After the hurricane, bank staff had to clear out its 15-story headquarters by carting boxes through the lobby.

Croal, who evacuated to Tallahassee, FL with the bank’s head of IT, quickly made sure branches were in operation, although it would be three months before they could get into the vault, where the records were intact and dry. The bank acted with great generosity toward staff and the community, making loans for important items like bulldozers with minimal documentation to help the community come back to life. See the case study at Hyland Software for some details: http://www.onbase.com/English/IndustrySolutions/FinancialServices/CaseStudies/HancockBank

Similarly, don’t miss the description of the recovery by Scott Hodgins at Cornerstone Advisors who wrote about it in their great Gonzobanker newsletter –  http://www.gonzobanker.com/article.aspx?Article=288. (Croal is now a member of the team at Cornerstone.)

The bank set up in Hattiesburg, MS, and as soon as it gained access to its vault it began transporting documents north for scanning, hiring recent college grads who lived in the area to help.

Croal said that OnBase played a critical role.

“We needed a vendor we could lean on real heavily because our tech guys didn’t have time to go begin a new project,” he said. They began scanning critical material such as credit files first, then specialized loans and leases.

In the storm-prone area, Hancock finds benefits from electronic files that can be accessed from anywhere and backed up easily. Electronic access also speeds up banking exams, at least with examiners who understand it.

“The Feds are embracing image,” said Croal, “but one of the two we had in just never got it. We had to sit there and hold her hand. The other lady got it right away.”

And installation was easy; they just added a link to the bank’s intranet and the credit analysts could access the information. In document management, Hancock Bank is prepared for the next storm.