Help Haiti with Free SharePoint Hosting

Attention all Haiti Relief aids! If you are helping Haiti in any way and could use SharePoint’s collaboration, document storage, project management or mobile access features to speed the recovery process, let Fpweb.net know.  We are offering free SharePoint hosting for all aid workers, government agencies and businesses for as long as needed.

As the dust continues to settle in Haiti, brave folks from all over the world are doing everything they can to come together to help Haiti rebuild.  Tragically, the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake has demonstrated how important it is to have access to crucial information on hand at all times.   Right now, as the country is still sifting through the rubble, there is a dire need to deliver the right information quickly and manage it efficiently (a common thread present in any disaster situation).  Microsoft SharePoint, an ideal disaster recovery tool, can help out immensely with its quick anytime access to pertinent information for those who need it.

It worked after Hurricane Katrina – it can work now.

SharePoint’s life saving role in the relief efforts of scorched earth scenarios like Haiti is relatively new to worldwide emergency response teams.  SharePoint (then WSS v2) made its first relief effort appearance after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005.  First responders quickly put SharePoint in action to restore the ravaged New Orleans and Gulf coast, relying heavily on its tools to establish order from chaos, getting processes flowing again and coordinating recovery efforts.

With any devastating disaster, it’s hard for many of us who aren’t there to realize just how much damage has been done.  In the case of Hurricane Katrina, we had a Fpweb.net hosted SharePoint customer who was a former Green Beret, using our SharePoint hosting to organize his military consulting resources while in the Middle East.  He was flown home to secure New Orleans shortly after the hurricane.

Upon arrival in New Orleans, he called me on a sat phone and said it was the worst thing he’d ever seen.  That’s saying a lot for a special ops guy with Middle East and Asian tours under his belt.  We chatted for a long time.  The more he told me, the more depressed I became until it dawned on me why he had called.  This gentleman knew all about the power of SharePoint, a blessing in disguise for those folks who were affected.

New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast affected by Katrina needed SharePoint – and they needed it now.  First responders couldn’t talk to each other, collaborate or share any crucial documents.   Local government was gone and they needed a place to do business.  “Why not SharePoint?” he said.  “It has everything needed for the Katrina folks.” I wholeheartedly agreed and he raised it up the flag pole with the Red Cross and in Washington DC.  Before long we were dolling out SharePoint sites to first responders, local businesses, judicial systems, state government agencies, schools, churches, utilities and even the local Microsoft office.

Just like it helped in New Orleans, SharePoint has the power to help Haiti.  Wherever or however you’re helping Haiti get back on its feet, let us know if a free Fpweb.net SharePoint site can help.  We’d be pleased to lend a hand.