How I Spent My Recent Sabbatical

By Usharani Kachegere, Senior Application Developer

There is no place in the world like home. I have the luxury of having two homes: one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a home far away from home, and the other at my parent’s house in Mandya, India, which I get to visit every two to three years. That’s the longest I can stay away from home. In Feb. of 2008 I took four weeks of vacation to visit my family in India along with my husband CK and our son Rohan (convenient getaway from the brutal winter of Iowa).

How Much is all that Marketing Worth, Anyway? - The Low Cost of Physician Leadership

By Heather Rast, Director of Strategic Services

Last night I read an interesting BusinessWeek article titled “Are We consumers - or Consumed?”  The article discussed opposed positions from two books, one which purports consumers and brands complicity interact, and the other which argues marketing (or “murketing,” suggests the author) and the consumer have a more ambiguous relationship.

Lessons Learned on Crisis Management

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & Corporate Evangelist

The floodwaters have (mostly) receded and national media attention has turned elsewhere. For those directly impacted by the floods of 2008, the work of restarting, rebuilding, and managing the ongoing PR challenges continues.

Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, IA found themselves at the center of this crisis as the water rose, eventually leading to a closure and partial flooding of their main hospital facility. Mercy managed crisis communications well under challenging conditions as they gradually lost communications and power.

FSHPRM Session Foretells Physicians’ Growing Reliance on Technology

By Eric George, eBusiness Strategist

I recently attended the Florida Hospital Association’s Annual Meeting and Education Conference (also known as FSHPRM) in Delray Beach, FL.  The conference offered many sessions and I had a number of opportunities to learn about ongoing trends in eHealth and discover where other experts feel the industry is headed.

Drop the books and go intern!

By Arthur Mitchell, Marketing Intern

I remember when going to college was sufficient to be ahead of the game. Now, for those who don’t plan to pursue a master’s degree, it is almost essential to have an internship experience before graduating from college. This is the cool new way to get ahead of the competition. 

The pursuit of health, happiness and a fun place to work.

By Heather Stanley, Marketing Communications Writer

We work with hospitals and health systems, so we are well aware of all the efforts the healthcare industry puts into promoting wellness and healthy living.  Because we align ourselves so closely with our clients and their goals, Geonetric takes wellness pretty seriously. 

In fact, some of the benefits I found most intriguing when I applied to Geonetric were wellness-themed.  Geonetric offers employees free gym memberships, fresh fruit for healthy snacking delivered weekly, and to relieve stress, a much-anticipated monthly massage day.

ICANN you can

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & Corporate Evangelist

If you’ve not heard, ICANN is opening up top level domains (.COM, .ORG, etc.) to just about anything and it’s starting to generate some discussion as we attempt to sort out the implications.  This is, ostensibly, in response to an impending shortage of available domain real estate.  Apparently, the number of .COM domains is running low.  Let’s gaze into the crystal CRT and make a few predictions:

The Ads of Yesterday

By Blayne Fielder, Content Strategist

Reading the local paper while eating a hot breakfast is a Sunday morning tradition at my house.  Our three-year old doesn’t believe in sleeping in, so the routine usually begins early. Recently however, this comfortable tradition requires a bigger commitment from me than a simple walk to the mailbox.  I must have missed a renewal notice because now I have to drive to the corner store to pick up the paper instead of simply walking to the mailbox.  Meanwhile, my eggs are getting cold.

Rate Your Web Culture

By Deb Rolfes, Market Development Strategist

I am an avid online quiz taker. This month alone I’ve taken an online typing quiz, calculated my ideal weight, and completed a general wellness quiz-all resulting with the typical suggestions like exercise more, don’t drink, eat fish-and never with real world solutions that allow me to have ice cream everyday! If only I could get an online quiz to produce the answer “You need to eat more Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream.”

Back on topic, every month Geonetric delivers a Webinar on industry leading topics. We recently conducted a Webinar on creating an effective Web culture.

Is Google making us Stupid? NO

By Dan Levengood, Senior Product Specialist

There is an article in the latest issue of The Atlantic titled, “Is Google Makings us Stupid?”  It’s an excellent read.   The article points out various ways Google is changing how we learn, read, research and digest information.  Good stuff.  However, I think they give Google too much credit.