My Experience with Mercy Medical Center’s Online Disaster Recovery Efforts

By Angie Brunow, Senior Project Manager

The Midwest flooding has been devastating to many individuals and businesses who call this area home. Mercy Medical Center, one of Geonetric’s’ clients, was no exception.

As the rising flood waters began to approach the hospital, Mercy Medical Center used every possible channel, including their Web site, to communicate with the public about the impact of the local crisis on their operations. That is until early Thursday morning when Mercy’s server - and their self-hosted Web site - lost power. Mercy contacted Geonetric and we immediately stepped in to lend a helping hand.

EF5: Too Close for Comfort

By Josh Griffin, IT Manager

In March, I gave a Webinar on disaster preparedness. We discussed the importance of having a plan, and the fact that this plan will always require fine-tuning. If you have seen the news lately, you will recall the May 25th tornado that claimed eight lives and destroyed 200 homes in Parkersburg, IA.

Parkersburg is just 20 miles from Cedar Falls, IA where our production co-location data center is located. The very same storm touched down just seven miles from our data center, which is built to withstand an EF4 category storm. At the time of the storm, I wasn’t worried that a tornado was in Cedar Falls. The likelihood of a tornado in Iowa being stronger than an EF4 is rare - the last EF5 that came through Iowa was in 1976. So my data center is safe right?

My Take on Security by Obscurity

By Josh Griffin, IT Manager

This month’s Microsoft® TechNet magazine had a great article, “The Great Debate on Security by Obscurity” where Jesper M. Johansson and Roger Grimes debated on the effectiveness of Security by Obscurity.  They both argue for and against Auguste Kerckhoffs’ principle (dating back to 1883) that states that a system should be secure by design not by the lack of knowledge of the design.  Having been in the IT security business for 12 years, I may be considered old school but I agree with Roger Grimes in that a system should be secure by design.

Capturing Brand Essence

By Heather Rast, Interactive Experience Manager

What is the axiom about impressions?  Something like “the first one is typically the right one.”

Let’s assume that’s true.  So try this on - what kind of impression does your brand make?  What does it leave people feeling?    What does your brand stand for?  There may be, ahem, a difference between what you think the public believes about you, and what it truly believes.  Shocking, I know.

If you answer “Superior Technology” or “Quality Service” or some other chunk of rhetoric, I challenge you to re-think.  What does your brand really stand for to those that matter - your clients, your patients, your customers or consumers.  How is your brand truly perceived?

Enter a handy tool called a brand personality board.

Inside the Mind of the Cancer Patient

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & Corporate Evangelist

I’m blogging from the NACCDO-PAN Conference (a meeting of cancer institute marketing, PR and development professionals) in a session by Amy Siegler, Managing Director at The Advisory Board Company, Inside the Mind of the Cancer Patient.

Moving beyond the homepage

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & Corporate Evangelist

Do you spend too much time and attention on your homepage?

I hear the backlash: ”No, it’s not possible to spend too much time on the homepage! It’s the single most visited page on the site! I’m fielding half a dozen requests for homepage space at this very moment…”

True, the homepage is the focal point of the Web site, the front door, the first impression that we try to make. But “try” is the operative word here. While we are meticulously fussing over the entryway, the door, the curb appeal, hordes of people are hopping the fence, crawling through a second story window and seeing the mess that we’ve heaped in the bedroom.

Taking the Plunge: Overcoming the Fear of Change

By Heather Rast, Interactive Experience Manager

No doubt, slogging through documentation, review, approvals, and committees to gain acceptance and funding of a proposed initiative (investment!) is a big undertaking.  To survive that trial and then later discover you are no longer aligned with your chosen partner can be overwhelming.  Apprehension.  Fear of exposure.  Performance anxiety.  How do you admit that the decision you made three years ago is no longer a fit?

Internet Can Cause Physical Harm

By Michael Herring, Interface Designer

In late March, some malicious internet users attacked an Epilepsy Foundation forum. This forum is aimed at helping people affected by epilepsy, a condition that can cause seizures and headaches when the brain is presented with a number of brief, strong surges of electrical activity; such as flashing lights and colors.

This was possibly the first attack on a Web site that caused actual physical suffering, according to the news article on Wired.com.

Facebook for corporate communications?

By Ben Dillon, Vice President, and Corporate Evangelist

Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess, told a great story in his blog last week about how Facebook is seeing use in his organization as an internal communications tool.  I had an opportunity to see Paul speak last year and he’s a passionate advocate for the potential of social media tools.  While I’m not quite ready to endorse Facebook as a core management communications tool as he suggests, I do think there are some excellent lessons in his story.

Brainstorming/Mind Mapping

By Heather Rast, Interactive Experience Manager

The Geonetric creative services team has started having internal abstract brainstorming sessions, centered around a random Web issue, to charge up the ‘ol creative batteries and shift gears to challenge folks to think outside of their everyday task lists. Wow, that’s a couple of automotive metaphors I didn’t intentionally make.

But the gist is applicable. No matter how well-knit a team is, or cleverly constructed cross-functional its genetic makeup, it’s a truism that we tend to use our own agendas, assignment lists, and frames of mind/exposure points to assess work-related issues and to get things accomplished.