According to Elizabeth Heller Allen, vice president of corporate communications at Dell, "the key was finding an outlet for our employees' desire to help." The urgency of getting some 75 of Dell's customers at Ground Zero and others in the DC area back in business pulled the staff together. At the same time, the senior leadership knew that only a revitalized staff would be able to deliver on Dell's strong reputation for customer service. A Dell document stated that the objective of its response plan was "to increase employee understanding of how the September 11 terrorist attacks affected Dell's customers and business and how Dell would respond." But, other company documents showed, top management knew that Dell's employees could assist affected customers only if they had a sense of security themselves.