Tools are extremely instrumental in helping all of us accomplish our goals—on a daily, if not hourly basis. We often take for granted how many implements, templates and devices we use and how beneficial they are to our personal and business ambitions. Nothing illustrates this more to me than packing for a deep-woods camping trip, where everything we need to survive for a few days must be carried into the forest in our pack or on our person.
While we can’t plan for every situation, bringing a few critical tools allows us to “be prepared” for almost anything. For example, on backpack trips we rarely carry stakes to hold down the tent. They add unnecessary weight and, using one of our tools (a sharp knife) we can fashion our own from dead trees to secure the tent from high winds.
The process we use to pack for a campout is very similar to how businesses should select the tools they need to build their organization’s success. Through a proper assessment of each tool’s value in either situation, you can remove some of the risk from your “adventure”.
One of the founding principles of the CompTIA Communities is to develop educational tools that help solution providers grow and achieve their business objectives—both long-term and short—term. For more than a year now, members of these groups collaborated in the creation of a portfolio of these instructive offerings. These resources include workshops, seminars, webinars, on demand videos, quick-start guides and business-level credentials – each specific to an IT channel audience.
The catalog of comprehensive resources is by no means complete; enhancements and additions to these educational materials and sessions will be rolled out on a continual basis. While the initial portfolio will be introduced at this week’s CompTIA Annual Member Meeting in Chicago, you don’t have to be in attendance to get your hands on the details. CompTIA created a new website section that allows you to register for the instructor-led training sessions and webinars, access quick-start guides and instructional steps, and print other educational materials for you and your employees.
Rather than wasting valuable time looking for the tools that best help solution providers to achieve key business objectives, all of the CompTIA Channel Education resources were created for channel organizations. The materials and workshops are created by VARs, MSPs and other IT channel experts; compiled using the shared knowledge, experiences, and best practices of industry professionals. That allows you to learn from the lessons of your peers and apply that information to your own business—to avoid the pitfalls and overcome obstacles that other similar organizations have faced.
What’s entailed in CompTIA Channel Education?
- Foundations Workshops—live, instructor-led training (one-day workshops) on cloud computing, healthcare IT and unified communications—with more to come!
- Quick Start Sessions— 45- to 60-minute programs that provide an overview and steps to launching a new business model, practice or service offering. Initial sessions include cloud computing, healthcare IT, IT security, managed print services, managed IT services and unified communications.
- Wednesday Webinar Series—covers business strategies, new opportunities and overcoming business challenges (live and on demand).
- 10-Week Guides—self-guided workbooks to help solution providers enter a specific market or create a new service practice, including cloud computing, healthcare IT and unified communications.
- Quick Start Guides—devoted to helping solution providers with a specific area of expertise, including cloud computing, healthcare IT, IT security, managed IT services, managed print services and unified communications.
- Fast Facts—include basic but significant data on topics of importance to the IT industry, including healthcare IT, IT security, and managed IT services.
Why reinvent the wheel, or at least the tools that create help create it? Access to the complete portfolio of CompTIA educational offerings is available on the CompTIA Member Resource Center. Those without a membership can still download a number of free materials at CompTIA Channel Education, in addition to learning more about the workshops and the association benefits. As we’ve all learned, tools are extremely helpful, especially when they are tailored to meet the needs of the job at hand.
Brian Sherman is founder of Tech Success Communications, specializing in editorial content and consulting for the IT channel. His previous roles include chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and industry alliances director with Autotask. Contact Brian at Bsherman@techsuccesscommunications.com.
