CompTIA Blog

I attended an interactive breakout session called Successful Business Growth Strategies for Easy and Effective Implementation at the CompTIA EMEA Conference this week, led by Susanne Dansey of Purple Cow Ideas Management, which included nine bars of chocolate and a room of business owners that was standing room only.The company name stems from Seth Godin’s book about being “Remarkable” and always standing out in what you do, and Dansey certainly delivered a message in that vein. She opened by as ...

When it comes to mobile device security, the smartphone chickens have long flown the IT security coop, and companies of all sizes are in the continual process of corralling device usage and reducing risk. To assist with this effort, CompTIA asked IT security experts—including forensic specialists, enterprise security executives and academics—to list their top enterprise best practices for mobile device security. Now that business intelligence flows through social networks, web apps and Clou ...

Cloud computing is the number 1 technology priority for CIOs, according to Gartner research. Gartner also predicts that the cloud market will be $150 billion by 2015.  By 2015 cloud services will make up 46 percent of net new growth in overall IT spending according to eWeek.com.In short, cloud computing is the biggest change in the IT profession and businesses need to take cloud computing seriously.But cloud computing brings complications: Cloud movement is faster than organizations can adapt. T ...

At EMEA 2011, Mike Meyers spoke to a group of technologists on an upcoming transition that many are not aware of: the change of standard boot firmware from BIOS to UEFI.Meyers began by describing the origins of Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) on CP/M systems in 1980. Matching the hardware of the time, BIOS was 16-bit code, and as systems advanced to 32 bit and eventually 64 bit, BIOS was the last remaining 16-bit code on systems. This limited the functionality of BIOS, and operating systems beg ...

In prior blogs, we’ve discussed our concerns about the Main Street Fairness Act and the Marketplace Freedom Act and how any increased compliance burdens may be imposed on many small businesses.We understand the concerns of many states that they are losing tax revenues due to the failure of purchasers to voluntarily file and pay use taxes on out-of-state purchases.  But the problem is not that businesses need to be “cracked-down” on because of some failing; the cause of the problem is that the st ...

As the economy dived, small businesses found capital to be hard (if not impossible) to secure.  Consequently, many small businesses are still working their way out of tough economic times, and most have had difficulty growing and adding employees.  While there is no single answer to this urgent problem, there are a number of small steps that Congress can take that will allow small businesses to raise capital more easily.  Clearly, our national economic recovery will not be achieved until small b ...

During EMEA this week, John McGlinchey, CompTIA’s regional sales director, shared his experience in 10 top tips to grow business: Social Media - Social media has become mainstream media.  But we need to ask ourselves one simple question and that is, “have we mastered social media?”   McGlinchey explains that we have a lot to learn in order to be effective.  We need to realize that at the heart of social media should be trust and respect for our customers.  We need to engage, reply and response t ...

If you are in the IT industry, you’ve noticed the ground shaking. Things are changing, and change can be scary.  If you are a member of the EMEA ITSS Community, you don’t have to face that change alone.The EMEA IT Services and Support Community held a meeting in London yesterday with vendor and service provider participants from various EMEA countries.  The theme for the meeting was: Being Ready for Technology ShiftsAll of the work at the full-day meeting -- educational sessions, discussion sess ...

A look at the week of November 7 in public advocacy for the IT channel: This week, the Senate passed a bill that funds multiple cybersecurity initiatives.  Small businesses that expand to serve government contracts are lobbying for some mid-size business protections. Rep. James Langevin (D-RI) is calling on Congress to speed up work on a cybersecurity bill.Funding Bill Invests in Cyber Jobs — A funding bill that would expand federal cybersecurity jobs and invest in scholarships for prospective c ...

Despite the gloomy economy and a global shift in some traditional job functions, there are plenty of IT jobs to be had if one knows how and where to look. So says Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA, in a Computerworld Q&A this week. Thibodeaux, a longtime leader within the technical fraternity, highlights mismatched skill sets as a prime reason so many unemployed IT technicians are being prevented from filling otherwise appealing job openings. “An IT career requires a lifelo ...

CompTIA member Kerry McDonough is U.S. director for small business sales at Cisco Systems Inc. He is also a long-time contributor to the channel and the association, and currently serves CompTIA as a member of the board of directors. In his role at Cisco, McDonough’s responsible for growing the company’s small business sales strategy and vision, as well as growing opportunities for its partner community.As a strong advocate of the small business community, he’s focused his attention on providing ...

We’ve come a long way since the early days of the channel, before the “value” was emphasized in VAR and when hardware was still a primary component of any sale. Just ten years ago, margin was one of the most important topics in any discussion with some resellers “shopping” partner programs for the best deals. The channel has undergone a significant transition over the past few years, requiring solution providers, vendors and distributors to put a new focus on the business education and training ...

At a recent industry conference, several solution providers expressed their concern that it was just too late for their companies to begin offering EMR and other healthcare-specific technologies. With so much buzz around the topic over the last two years (since the stimulus package was passed by Congress), they were convinced that the opportunities in this market had simply passed them by. But other solution providers in the room stressed that the supply of specialized services has, in no way, r ...

More and more employers may be turning to virtual job fairs in an attempt to broaden their candidate pool while saving travel and expenses. In these online forums - in which both companies and job seekers can log in from across the globe - participants can access a variety of “booths” of such big-name firms including Procter & Gamble Co., Citigroup or Boeing Co. to learn details about the company as well as open positions, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. These job ...

Access to capital and a skilled workforce are critical to the success of small- and medium-sized IT businesses, CompTIA members told Congressional members and Administration officials today. On the final day of CompTIA's Washington D.C. Fly-In event, CompTIA members from across the country met with policymakers to stress the issues that are important to small- and medium-sized tech businesses.Meeting with officials at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, members said access t ...