New Year, New Look

Among the many new business realities that have emerged in recent years is the fact that, even in down times with limited resources, organizations that intend to compete and succeed must keep moving and innovating. It's as true for media companies as it is for banks and technology providers, and so we are unveiling a terrific new look with this issue of Bank Systems & Technology.

Thanks for this elegant new design go to our intrepid creative leaders: Mike Gigante, art director of sister publication InformationWeek; Carl Menz, BS&T's associate art director; and Mike's support team of Doug Adams and Grey Morris (in fact, Grey will soon join us as art director). These talented gentlemen have come up with a new look for BS&T that is highly readable, visually engaging, and contemporary without being trendy.

Of course, looks aren't everything, and along with the redesign we have updated the content of BS&T. We have revamped and renamed some long-standing departments and introduced some new features, not only to improve the flow, readability and focus of the magazine, but also to support our editorial mission: To provide information about how banking executives can drive and effect change in their organizations that contributes to improved customer focus, competitiveness and financial performance, as well as reduced risk.

Among the new and/or updated features we are rolling out in this issue are Industry Watch, a look at newsworthy developments in the industry, with an emphasis on big deals and executive moves; Perspectives, a sort of "virtual roundtable," that presents opinions on hot topics from a mix of industry thought-leaders; Spotlight, an overview of news and trends in key banking application areas; and Best Practices, an updated approach to case studies and roll-outs that provides valuable performance and ROI benchmarks.

This content doesn't appear without the insights and efforts of our outstanding editorial team: senior editor Ivan Schneider, associate editor Cynthia Ramsaran, and recently departed managing editor Greg MacSweeney. Together, our team is committed to building on Bank Systems & Technology's nearly 40 years of industry leadership. Please let me know what you think about our new look and focus. Happy New Year!

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio