“CompTIA? Where is the Value?”

I have been a member of CompTIA in one form or another for the last 18 years and, I must admit, for the first year or two I was one of those guys who “just did not see the value” of the membership. My reseller business joined CompTIA in 1993 at the suggestion of our VP of Services. He thought that the Authorized Service Center Certification might help us stand out from the somewhat crowded break/fix IT services market, and I remember him commenting that “CompTIA was doing some interesting things” at the time. He was always a bright guy.

I imagine that kind of thing happens often – people in the channel become aware of CompTIA through a co-worker or a friend and never get involved enough to understand that the real value of their membership is in the journey, not the destination. With that in mind, let me take you on “my journey” and hopefully convey how and where I found the value in CompTIA.

After we joined CompTIA and received our ASC Certification, I met another bright gentleman who was more intimately familiar with the association and suggested I attend a Services Section meeting. Though I was skeptical of the group and its value to my business, I decided to give it a shot; and that meeting impacted my career far more than I ever would have imagined. I met executives from companies whose products we were selling with a deep interest in the feedback I could provide them on their products. I listened to a room full of direct competitors as they pleasantly discussed ways to solve problems in the industry that none of them could address individually. Each attendee chose to participate in an intense 24-hour dialogue focused solely on what the group could do to improve the IT industry as a whole. What a concept!

While I didn’t walk away with a single thing that would help me grow my business that day, two important things did happen. I learned how the decisions that help the industry grow were made and, for the first time, I realized I wanted to have a voice in that effort.

So much has happened since those early meetings with CompTIA. Through my participation and experience with various groups over the years, I was blessed with the opportunity to Chair “CompTIA Breakaway,” where I learned some tough lessons about the hard work required to pull off such a complex and beneficial event. I will be forever thankful for that experience.

The following year, the then CEO of CompTIA, John Venator called me from out of the blue (from my perspective) and asked me to join the Board of Directors. For the next three years I had a front row seat and a real voice in how CompTIA operated and its impact on the industry. It was during that time that “managed services” became the topic of every other conversation in the IT channel. Today, I’m still glad to be involved, chairing the MSP Partners Community as we work towards the creation of a credential that could help further shape the industry, and help MSPs differentiate themselves from the competition. It seems I’ve come full circle from where I started with CompTIA 18 years ago.

So, what is the value of CompTIA? For me, it’s evident in several areas. When my company decided to provide warranty printer service, I was able to call industry friends (whom I met through CompTIA) who helped me get the proper authorizations–I did not have to go through the traditional (much longer) processes that most providers do. When business suffered after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, I had a peer group in the association with whom I could collaborate (and occasionally commiserate).

In 2006, I had to make one of the toughest decisions of my career, whether or not to sell my reseller business and pursue an opportunity on the other side of the channel. In the end, the decision proved to be an easy one. CompTIA had not only helped me build a successful reseller organization, it provided me with the foundation and opportunity to take the next step, as a managed service and cloud vendor. In many ways, my association experiences made that possible.

At the end of the day, the value that I have received from CompTIA is a better understanding of the industry, a conduit to contribute to it, and the awareness necessary to make an impact. I would say it has been an extremely valuable journey.

Ted Roller is the Vice President of Channel Development for Intronis, Inc. and is currently chair of the CompTIA MSP Partners Community (formerly the Managed IT Services Community). He is a former MSP and has served as a CompTIA Board member and Breakaway chair. You can reach him at troller@intronis.com.