CompTIA Blog

If you were to look at your sales compensation plans, could you say that those plans reinforce the goals and objectives of your business, or are they simply a pay plan? This is a very important question to ask when determining the effectiveness of your compensation plans.Let’s begin by defining why we have compensation plans. There are two reasons: To pay people fairly for the work that they are doing To implement the objectives of the organizationWhen most of us develop our sales compensation p ...

Regardless of the economic challenges in the business world, a few vertical markets continue to thrive. When purse strings tighten and layoffs continue to escalate, people become more defensive and have a tendency to sue more often. That’s good news for lawyers and, regardless of your personal feelings, creates numerous opportunities for solution providers.According to the American Bar Association, there are approximately 1.2 million licensed attorneys in the U.S. and almost 75 percent of them a ...

A look at the week of July 4 in advocacy for the IT channel: This week the nation's largest organization of physician executives announced that it is running a training course designed to better help hospital executives adapt to the rapid changes in healthcare IT. A new research study released this week indicates that the recent spike in cybersecurity breaches is a product of increased disclosure rather than an actual increase in such incidents. The president of the Internet Security Alliance to ...

Many organizations invest time and money developing their leaders’ skills, only to realize limited, if any, measurable gains. This can be frustrating for all involved. With so much at stake and so many competing priorities for dollars, it’s time to get smart about leadership development. Invest, Invest, Invest! Investing in leadership skills development in the absence of developing the self-awareness of leaders or focusing solely on competencies while ignoring the important underlying leadersh ...

High schoolers in a rural Indiana farming community are getting a CompTIA-soaked technology awakening thanks to an upstart junior college program.Located between Clinton and Rockville, Indiana, Ivy Tech Community College has for the past seven years been helping kids graduate not just with high school diplomas, but also with CompTIA A+ and Network+ certifications in a dual credit initiative unique to the state and much of the country.Charlie Peebles, an assistant professor and former IBM technic ...

The Fourth of July holiday seemed perfect timing for a recent gift by our member communities.The IT Business Growth Professionals Community, one of 10 communities within the CompTIA membership, made a $5,000 gift to Veterans Inc. which helps veterans improve their lives in the areas of housing, employment and health.“This is an opportunity to say thank you to those who have served,” said Ken Thoreson, chair of the ITBGP Community and president of Acumen Management Group in Tennessee. “We were ex ...

As we head into a long weekend and celebrate the 235th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it’s a great time to reflect on what may be a pivotal point in the “cloud revolution”. The news coming out of Redmond this week wasn’t quite what many channel experts predicted, and has many VARs reevaluating the status of their vendor relationships—or at least the portfolio they wish to represent. Of course I’m referring to the much discussed announcement by Microsoft CEO Steve ...

Catch our latest interview with IT channel CEOs to help our members learn from each other. CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux talks with Shari Marion-Hoff, founder and CEO of Edgewalk Business Experience.Edgewalk’s mission is to facilitate partnerships between colleges/universities and corporations in order to accelerate the development of tomorrow’s business professionals. It provides real-world, hands-on business experience for college and university students by partnering with corporat ...

High schoolers in a rural Indiana farming community are getting a CompTIA-soaked technology awakening thanks to an upstart junior college program. Located between Clinton and Rockville, Indiana, Ivy Tech Community College has for the past seven years been helping kids graduate not just with high school diplomas, but also with CompTIA A+ and Network+ certifications in a dual credit initiative unique to the state and much of the country. Charlie Peebles, an assistant professor and form ...

IT spending by federal, state and local governments is expected to top $130 billion in 2011. That’s a significant pile of cash and has a number of VARs and MSPs wondering how they can get a piece of it. Other providers have watched from the sidelines, unsure if the government sector revenue is worth the perceived aggravation of red tape and other obstacles. Regardless of which situation describes your business, the opportunities presented by municipalities, as well as state and federal entities, ...

A look at the week of June 27 in public advocacy for the IT channel: This week, small medical practices adopting health IT systems are reporting that the lack of a standard code and software makes communicating between systems a challenge.  The Department of Homeland Security plans to release guidelines for organizations to avoid the most common types of cyberattacks.  Timothy F. Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary, told members of the House Small Business Committee that the Treasury wil ...

This past week I attended an event hosted by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE for short) at the Philadelphia Convention Center. I wasn't quite sure what to expect never having attended before. Walking away I was very impressed by the energy, diversity and professionalism of the show. I also left thinking this could have been an education focused hall of a larger IT event. Think Comdex meets classroom.Technology use in education continues to climb the ladder. From colla ...

Brazil is fast becoming a worldwide hotspot for technical development and when one of the country’s leading training institutions sought an entryway to reach more of the public, CompTIA put out the red carpet.ULT/GrupoAmericas, the Curitiba-based professional training firm with technical degree courses in 19 campuses across 11 states in Brazil and partnerships with some of the biggest companies in the IT arena, is in the final stages of its launch of a CompTIA certification program this summer.“ ...

Two of the hottest areas in tech – cybersecurity and healthcare IT – are focal points at our two upcoming events:  Breakaway and Tech Summit, both co-located in Washington, D.C. in August. Find Best Practices & New Opportunities in IT Security Advancements in cloud computing, wireless capacities and smart technologies all create greater business potential while raising many security questions. At Breakaway, explore the challenges and opportunities in the IT security field. ...

In April, we noted that legislation had been introduced in the House to require a distinct physical presence as a prerequisite for the taxation of interstate business activities.  If this legislation is not enacted, businesses could be subjected to conflicting income tax requirements of competing states on the same transaction, and this will result in increased compliance costs.So now that this legislation has been introduced, how do we move it along?  The key is to show a broad base of support ...