An Old School Take on New Technology: Just Because You Can, Should You?
Written May 9th, 2007 by Judy StokesOK, I will admit right up front that I am, perhaps, an “old” Webmaster. I started in this business – writing on behalf of a health care company – when we had to send stories for review by U.S. mail. Try to imagine it…postage stamps.
I was amazed by the convenience of the first fax machine that landed in our hospital laboratory. Now I have the privilege of acquiring 100+ new e-mail messages every day – and being invited to grab hold of even more information. Anything you could want is out there, just waiting to be read. That sound you hear is my head, spinning.
Having the perspective of years, I am seeing a disturbing trend: the thought that once we learn about some new technology, we all ought to rush out there to use it. People are asking, wouldn’t it be cool if we had:
- a blog?
- an RSS feed?
- some podcasts?
- our own video on YouTube?
- a presence on MySpace?
- a new collaboration area?
I’d like to challenge us to consistently ask ourselves this:
- How would this new technology actually serve our ongoing mission?
- How much of our target audience actually uses this new technology – and what’s the likelihood that most of them will switch to it?
- Do I have the time, money and other resources to add a new gizmo to my plate?
Our organization is exploring several of these new gizmos, and they are exciting! We will deliver our annual report electronically this year. Our CEO is communicating with leaders via podcast about a key initiative.
However, we are still working on some basic building blocks that represent the best value we can provide to our customers/patients: Online appointments. Easy, electronic means of communicating with the health care team. And I feel I have to keep holding back the tide of new ideas, at least long enough to evaluate what is most important for us to do – and to help everyone stay focused on that.
We are not in the information or entertainment business – we are health care providers, caring for patients in our own communities. How can all these new technologies help us do that one simple thing?
May 9th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
This post is very timely, as we are experiencing the exact same thing. Though I’m very comfortable with the newer technologies you mentioned, I take a very strong line of not employing technology for the sake of technology. If some new bit of technology clearly works for us and we have the time to develop it, then great – let’s use it. If not, then no.
Good topic!
May 9th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Some of those things are easy to add, and can make content more accessible for users. Adding an rss feed to your news release section, for example, is very simple and ours has hundreds of users. We also found doing consumer podcasts pretty easy, and while the audience is growing, it isn’t huge. But the investment is fairly minimal. But I agree that for some things, it makes no sense. There are hospital systems in our market offering physician “blogs” that are really blogs in name only. No opportunity for comment, discussion or community. I wonder about the value of doing that.
The bottom line, as always, is if you can’t show worthwhile results, being “cool” doesn’t help patients or pay any bills!
May 9th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I agree with the above comments – you shouldn’t doing something just because it’s “cool”. However ROI isn’t the only factor. A web presence that offers information using current, up-to-date technology is a positive reflection on your hospital. The meta-message is that if your website is on top of current trends, then maybe your hospital is too.
But don’t any of these things unless you can do them well – I agree with Neal, an empty blog is worse than no blog at all.
May 9th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Or how about Secnod Life and There and Whyville…I couldn’t agree more with Judy. Healthcare must stay focused on using the web to deliver the service to make it easier for our patients to interact with us. Appointments, evisits, portals, etc. all do that.
While we do do RSS and podcasts (minimal investment), it does transform our business, improve patient care, grow the business or make it easier for patients. Good post.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Thanks, all, for your comments on this concept. I agree with Ed that there is a meta-message of being technologically “with it” that has value.
I am hoping we can achieve that image with a few, well-thought-out steps into new technology instead of running into it blindly.
Interesting times that we live in…
May 11th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
It’s not about the technology … really … it’s about communicating. And, if your target audience is communicating in a certain way, shouldn’t you? I think RSS is a great example. If journalists who have you as their beat are using RSS feeds as a way to stay informed, shouldn’t you have RSS in your newsroom? I mean, you wouldn’t dream of not sending them a fax when fax machines were how they received their information.
And, ouch, Neal (we’re a hospital system in Neal’s market with a blog
). While it’s true that we don’t offer real-time feedback, it is our intention of posting all comments. There are some things we cannot and will not. But that argument (and I’m sure it would be very robust) aside, again, it’s simply a way of communicating. This blog by a cancer doc is a great way of humanizing what we do. People have been very receptive to receiving this viewpoint. And why not have it on your organization’s site vs. blogspot?
May 16th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I wasn’t meaning to be critical of what Chris is doing, but if you really want to see a health care blog, check these out:
http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/
http://windberblog.typepad.com/
And I agree that any means to communicate is worth trying, and then measuring to determine if the effort was worth the return. ROI doesn’t always have to translate into dollars. The return on your investment could be X number of consumers learning more about their health!
May 18th, 2007 at 8:30 am
Neal,
Those are fascinating blogs – I’m going to share them with folks at my hospital. I get many inquiries from my internal customers about blogs – What are they? Should I do one? Would it help promote our services?
They don’t realize that a successful blog shares a personal point of view – from an individual, not a corporation. And it’s a lot of work!
These CEO’s are the exception – this kind of casual blogging would not feel comfortable to most C-level executives.