CompTIA Blog

Should Amazon’s foray into managed services be a major concern to MSPs? In some regards, yes, but only if providers fail to adapt and double down on their customer focus. Rather than viewing Amazon’s move as an immediate competitive threat, MSPs should consider it a catalyst for retooling their own businesses.

During a Policy Executive Board (PxB) dinner in December, we were honored to have Congressman Will Hurd (R-TX), Ambassador Rufus Yerxa, President and CEO of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), and Jeff Lambert from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) join us for a lively discussion on what the next several months may hold for tech policy and larger geopolitical considerations.

Do you have a good understanding of what each of your customer’s employees do with their individual devices and applications? What solutions could boost their productivity or make their work more enjoyable? Successful IT services firms know the answers to those questions — or at least how to find them. Fantastic solutions begin (and end) with the end users.

Hinkley High School student Jose Rivera grew up loving computers. And with the help of the KidsTek program, he earned a CompTIA Network+ certificate his junior year, setting him up for educational and career success, no matter where his future takes him.

What will 2017 bring for the IT channel? Providers will certainly continue to assess and strengthen their business models measure the long-term viability and profitability of their offerings, and identify growth opportunities. They will transform and innovate. But which trends will entice IT service providers to make a shift (or at least set the wheels in motion) in 2017? Here are five of the most likely drivers:

Which stories were of most importance to the channel in 2016? With so many to choose from, we narrowed it down to the five that should have a major impact on the IT industry for years to come.

CompTIA recently released CyberSeek, an interactive heat map that provides data on the supply and demand of cybersecurity employment throughout the nation. This tool allows policy makers to see the true impact of the educational pipeline and how the talent gap impacts their state or metro area today.

Join us as we count down CompTIA's Greatest Hits of 2016, which cover cybersecurity, career development and even geography. What was your favorite article this year?

Cassandra Anderson, vice president of channel, sales operations and marketing at Crexendo, shares her thoughts on sales playbooks.

Coming off a surprising federal election in December, the Human Services Information Technology Advisory Group (HSITAG) heard from national association leaders about their predictions on the future of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under a new administration. While a lot is still unknown and much to be revealed in the New Year, the one thing that the group agreed on (and has been publicly stated) is that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as we know it will go away – at least in part.

Sacramento State University recently hosted a series of events to examine what is possible when government and technology interface. CompTIA’s SLED Council is a big supporter of the Sac State Policy and Politics program and even sponsored a $5,000 scholarship for a graduate student in 2016.

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, nearly 4,000 IT professionals logged on to make our first IT Pro Day a rousing success. CompTIA Senior Director, Technology Analysis, Seth Robinson emceed the event, which included a keynote from CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux, learning sessions from CompTIA staff and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and reports live on the scene from CompTIA Director, Education, Miles Jobgen.

Are consumer tech products and applications a concern, opportunity or both for the channel? Providers may not have to integrate or support every device someone brings into the workplace or every solution uploaded on a laptop , but they should have a say in how they are used or deployed. The consumerization of IT definitely presents new challenges to solution providers, but those who understand its value to their clients will reap the rewards from delivering additional network, security and support services.

CompTIA’s 6th Annual State of the Channel study found that while 4 in 10 solution providers describe themselves as “very satisfied” with their vendors in the last year – a percentage on par with 2015 – the firms that had some level of dissatisfaction more than doubled. Relationships are not just harder to maintain, they're undergoing dynamic changes.

With the flurry of events, activities and resource introductions in 2016, this is a great point to take a step back and reflect. What were some of the resources CompTIA members valued the most in 2016? With hundreds of research reports, education guides and IT business tools to choose from, it wasn’t easy narrowing it down to a Top 10 list, but we did.