HFM's digital transition

As regular visitors to Health Facilities Management’s website or subscribers to any of our six e-newsletters already may have noticed, our digital offerings are currently going through major changes.

At the heart of these modifications is the fact that nearly 20 percent of our digital readers currently use smartphones and almost 5 percent use tablets to access information on HFM’s website.

While we were greatly honored to learn that many of you thought so highly of our content that you attempted to access it away from your desks, we also realized it wasn't a very user-friendly experience. And, as more of you squinted at your smartphones or tilted your tablets to view our previously inflexible website and newsletters, we knew it was time to update our electronic offerings.

It's a bigger job than you might imagine. Building on the foundation laid by our sister publications — Hospitals & Health Networks and Trustee — we've migrated our digital and print production to an entirely new content management system that requires us to rethink all our work processes.

The early results bring a new versatility that makes our newsletters and website readable to a wide variety of mobile devices, but the conversion is still very much a work in progress.

Among our current tasks is moving our archived content to the new system and recategorizing our stories to make them easier for both readers and internet search engines to find. We also plan to redesign the website to bring its aesthetic qualities up to the level of its functional performance.

As our site development continues, our digital readers will enjoy more timely and relevant content, better search capabilities, more graphic and photo possibilities and, ultimately, a better way to tailor their own user experiences.

So, log on and explore our new website or subscribe to our redesigned newsletters. Enjoy the new capabilities our digital infrastructure provides while keeping in mind that the best is yet to come.