New VON Editor!

I’m so excited! This week I got to meet our new editor for the VON magazine and Web site, former InformationWeek Editor at Large Richard Martin.

You can read all about our plans for the VON properties here, and stay tuned for more content and more information.

Now on to the real point: Richard is a Southerner, which makes the balance of power in my department between Southerners (of which, as a Texan, I count myself) and non-Southerners to the Southern side of the equation. But he lives in Denver, and this just points out a wonderful success in the realm of the remote workforce.

Virgo Publishing, the company that owns xchange, PHONE+, B/OSS and VON, decided several years back to embark on a telecommuting strategy that basically sent everyone whose jobs allowed (read: writers and editors) home to telecommute, so the company could reap the benefits of a happier, more productive workforce, and less HQ overhead. Remote workers would be connected via a remote desktop application, VoIP and broadband.

All of this was very much ahead of its time and somewhat of an experiment. There was the danger that workers would slack off (not with the kinds of deadlines we have, I’m afraid). There was the defeat of micromanagement since the literal looking over the shoulder became a thing of the past. There was the rise of e-mail as the primary form of communication. There were creative ways to share files and the creation of new editing processes and content management strategies. There was the reduction in the number of lengthy meetings in the conference room.

For us, the experiment not only worked, but has allowed us to draw from such a deep well of talent in a way we never would have been able to had the remote policy not been instigated. We’ve hired seasoned telecom reporters Bob Wallace (residential and landline content beats) and Tim McElligott (BSS/OSS), and now Richard, whose experience is really such a boon to our VON launch, and whom I’m very much looking forward to working with. It’s also allowed the team to retain editors whose outside-Virgo lives necessitated a move. Like me — I moved to Massachusetts. Channel Editor Cara Sievers moved to Tennessee. It’s also, by virtue of being scattered across the country, allowed us to be more timely — we can cover all the time zones, you know.

And it’s all the power of IP. And IT, for that matter. For us, a publishing company that would fall into the SMB category, our communications solution is very much matched up with our business needs.

So what happens now, in the age of unified communications, FMC and cloud computing? The idea is that companies like mine will be able to be even more nimble, more productive and more competitive — and be able to save even more money. It’s this last point that comes home to roost. Today I spoke to a Verizon Business UC expert, Laurie Shook, who explained to me that what she’s found is that businesses look at things through the lens of dollars and sense — productivity is a hard sell for an IT department. I think this is worth considering amongst all the discussion of business IP. It’s the reality of it that matters, not the marketing hype. This became clear to me as I considered Virgo’s distributed nature.

And why do I have a feeling that all manner of communications pitches will start to roll into Virgo now? Sorry, IT guys.

More info on the VON launch:

Virgo announced in October its plans to create new industry-leading products based on certain assets, including the VON databases and trademarks, which formerly were owned by Pulvermedia and recently purchased by Virgo.

“The VON brand will be positioned as ‘The Voice of Network Convergence,’” said Mike Saxby, group publisher, Telecom Division for Virgo Publishing. “It won’t stop at voice over the net, but will cover the broader opportunity afforded by IP-based communications of all kinds — from IP telephony and IP video to unified communications and fixed-mobile convergence.”

VON.com explores the world of enhanced IP communications — IP telephony, IP video, unified communications, fixed-mobile convergence and blended services — for the entire value chain. Whether service provider, developer, channel partner or enterprise/SMB user, VON.com delivers news, analysis and insight to help executives better understand and act on the global IP revolution. Search, reader channels and topical categories help them find the information — news, analysis, Webinars, eBooks, buyer’s guides — that is most relevant to their businesses.