Resolving To Be A Better Community Resource

With the new year, CRN takes the concept "out with the old" to new extremes.

HEATHER CLANCY Can be reached via e-mail at hclancy@cmp.com.

Those of you reading this column in print hold in your hands the inaugural issue of the third major redesign in this publication's 25-year history. Like the past rebirths, this latest transformation takes its cue from the ever-changing information-gathering habits of an ever-evolving channel. More than anything else, it is about flexibility—about accommodating solution providers wherever and whenever they want to read, research or interact with each other and with the reporters who cover them.

The first thing you'll notice is our new size, one that brings us in line with mainstream weekly news magazines. There's a philosophical reason for this change: Print magazines are about reflection, about analysis of events and issues, about establishing a point of view. The tabloid format is typically associated with reacting to and reporting on breaking news. While this is still core to CRN's editorial mission, our premier venue for breaking news now is crn.com.

Let me explain the departments and sections you'll find in print. The first pages—What's News and News Analysis—will cover and analyze the latest news developments. In the back, we've consolidated new product and technology coverage—software, hardware, networking, security and custom systems—into one ¼ber-section called Tech Focus. We've overhauled our well-read data page, The Numbers Sheet. The expanded Demand Generation section is where we'll cover what you and your peers—notably the CRN Fast Growth 100 fastest-growing solution providers—are doing to win new customers and keep existing accounts loyal. On the flip side, we'll identify up-and-coming new vendors with a great proposition for channel partners in our new Upstarts & Startups section. In the Market Focus series, we'll regularly rotate stories about issues and news related to how to reach, win and increase your sales in small-business and midmarket accounts. We'll take a similar approach in the Specialist Focus section, only this time the emphasis will be on developments related to home integration and various vertical markets, such as enterprise, financial services and health care. And once each month, you'll receive a CRN Perspectives report that will dissect channel hot buttons through research and analysis—issues from managed services to profitability.

Those of you reading these words online won't be exempt from change. Aside from the stories generated daily by the news team, we're reorganizing the existing information and resources to make it simpler for you to find. And we're building out the long-awaited feedback and community sections of our site. That's because just as your business is in a constant state of flux, CRN is a work in progress, and we need input from our community to make it better.

What do you think of the new CRN--or otherwise?
CRN Editor Heather Clancy welcomes feedback, letters and ideas from solution providers at hclancy@cmp.com.