CompTIA Blog

This addition to the CompTIA blog is part of a guest series celebrating Small Business Week. IT companies today operate in an environment that’s both exciting and challenging. The persistent evolution of technology — cloud computing, mobility, unified communications, cybersecurity and virtualization, for example — make technology solutions more accessible and affordable than ever before.  The willingness of businesses and consumers to embrace these innovations has created ...

The dilemma: Companies have job openings or want to hire in order to expand, but are fearful of a slowdown in new business orders. This scenario has been the default for companies across the IT channel during the past few years of economic uncertainty. New research from CompTIA suggests we may have finally reached a point of sustained stability. According to CompTIA’s recent Q2 IT Industry Business Confidence Index, executives feel more positive about the overall economy and growth prosp ...

As the world’s foremost vendor-neutral IT certification body, CompTIA is leading the new wave of neuroscience-based, adaptive learning with a comprehensive new training program: CompTIA CertMaster. This new learning tool, designed to help students and professionals better prepare for IT certification exams and future IT careers, goes beyond the typical race to the finish model and features a variety of techniques to help you learn, including adaptive learning, spacing and motivation trigge ...

As the world’s foremost vendor-neutral IT certification body, CompTIA is leading the new wave of neuroscience-based, adaptive learning with a comprehensive new training program: CompTIA CertMaster. This new learning tool, designed to help students and professionals better prepare for IT certification exams and future IT careers, goes beyond the typical race to the finish model and features a variety of techniques to help you learn, including adaptive learning, spacing and motivation triggers.

On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved six tax extender provisions and left 50 more on the chopping block. It’s unclear if the committee will reconvene to review the other 50, but in keeping with the desire of Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) to bring certainty to the tax code, yesterday’s action would make the six extenders that did pass permanent. The extenders currently have expiration dates, which most agree hamper their effectiveness, so those supporting the six provisi ...

Laser-like focus is critical to the success of any business, but perhaps even more so for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). With less of a margin for error than their larger counterparts, anything that causes a small business to take its eye off the ball is a threat to that company’s livelihood. My industry — the conferencing and collaboration space — has been blanketed in recent years by a demand letter from a so-called patent troll, demanding payment for a mute featur ...

This month, Jay Larsen, president and founder of the Idaho Technology Council, discussed with TechVoice legislation he and his organization have championed to grow Idaho’s technology ecosystem. Read how the council’s advocacy efforts influenced those bills, the lessons Larsen learned along the way and how the Idaho Technology Council’s partnership with TechVoice has helped in these efforts. I understand you’ve been very active at the state level with several bills around ...

Software engineer Joseph Cole took advantage of the partnership between Western Governors University and CompTIA to earn IT certifications while completing his bachelor’s degree in IT – all without going into debt. And if he was enrolling today, Cole would be the perfect candidate for a new WGU scholarship for CompTIA certification holders.

Nellie Scott is at the top of her game with Lenovo, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of personal computers. She serves as director of sales support & enablement, supporting the sellers and companies that sell Lenovo products and services. As someone who has advanced her career without a four-year degree, she's living proof you can beat the odds.

This sponsored blog entry was submitted by Chris Gonsalves of ChannelNomics. There’s a dirty little secret in the grand promise of the Internet of Things. Within the rapidly proliferating realm of talking machines that enables this hyperconnected ecosystem, there is a woeful lack of security. That shortcoming could leave important systems vulnerable to compromise and ultimately threaten the viability of an emerging technology space on which many have pinned high hopes. Understanding t ...

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” This was never a hard question for me. I wanted to be a veterinarian, then a doctor. However, when it came time to decide on a college major, I chose marketing to pursue a creative career in advertising — or so I thought. What you think you want and where life actually leads you can sometimes be very different. My 18-year-old self would not recognize me today: I’m channel engagement manager for Datto and have been working in the ...

Society and technology are evolving faster than our ability to adapt. That point was strongly emphasized by Bob Humphreys in his presentation that helped kick off the recent CompTIA IT Services and Support Community meeting in Woodbridge, Ontario, just north of Toronto. The leader of Demand Programs and Digital Strategy for IBM Canada underscored how technology has become the most important external force that impacts today’s businesses. Back in the day, most businesses used IT for process ...

As a wireless internet service provider (WISP) in a rural, sawmill region of Oregon, IV Data Center is the last frontier when it comes to serving areas other ISPs can’t or won’t serve. We help bridge the digital divide for the most underserved customers in the country. Our company, also known as Illinois Valley Data Center, serves Josephine County, Ore., which consistently ranks as the second poorest county in the state. The small lumber mill region has seen its industry decimated o ...

The annual PCR Brit List features the 50 most influential people in tech, from directors to CEOs, retail buyers to doctors and even a few celebrities. The list by PCR – a universally read UK IT publication – includes people who are inspiring innovations, evolutions and progression in the IT channel. This year, CompTIA’s membership was represented among the movers and shakers in the IT world, first with our own Vaughan Shayler. Shayler, CompTIA’s director of channel strate ...

Recently, CompTIA filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission on FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal for new net neutrality rules. CompTIA believes that transparency, no-blocking and nondiscrimination rules are essential to protect and promote the interests of small businesses operating online. Without such rules, broadband Internet service providers (ISPs) could charge any business operating online for access, or prioritized access, to an ISP’s customers. Small busines ...