A month after floodwaters damaged its headquarters, information technology firm JMark Business Solutions Inc. today reopened its offices at 601 N. National Ave.
Director of Marketing and Communications Chris Tuckness said a rough estimate of the damages has not been calculated.
“We don’t have that number just yet,” Tuckness said. “Obviously, we were displaced. We lost all of our cars and some internal stuff as well.”
Tuckness said 13 company vehicles were totaled by the March 13 flooding caused by an estimated 5-7 inches of rain that hit Springfield. Five computers, baseboards, walls and desks were damaged by about an inch and a half of water inside the building, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives.
Tuckness said between temporary offices set up the night of the flood and data backups at Bluebird Underground, JMark customers did not experience service interruption during the displacement.
“That night we started setting up some remote offices for employees at home, but we rolled some (customer) calls even in the short term to our Fayetteville and Tulsa offices,” Tuckness said.
He added Jordan Valley Community Health Center offered space for the company to relocate, but due to its roughly 85 employees needing space, JMark eventually chose to set up temporary offices at Enactus’ headquarters, 1959 E. Kerr St.
In a news release, JMark recognized the help of other other local companies, including Bixler Corp., Maids of Honor, SpringNet, Pinegar Chevrolet Inc. and Ollis/Akers/Arney.
In addition to support from other companies in the local community, Tuckness cited JMark’s nearly 200-page disaster plan as instrumental to maintaining its operations without a permanent home base.
“That definitely saved us,” Tuckness said. “We can’t stress enough to other companies to have a business continuity plan in place.”
Tuckness said while the company provides disaster preparedness planning as a service within one of its IT product lines, JMark is expanding the concept to business operations. He added the company's sales department has been contacted by other businesses seeking consultation for writing their own plan.
“I think it definitely piqued interest, not only among our clients in Missouri but also across the country,” Tuckness said, adding he did not know the names of the two or three companies that approached JMark about a plan.
