CompTIA Blog

There’s nothing like spending a week meeting face-to-face with some of the brightest minds in the IT services industry to get a firmer grasp on the biggest challenges facing solution providers. Despite what some say, there is no better way to connect and share valuable information than live personal interaction. That same principle applies to clients and prospects, but due to cost and time constraints, that kind of type of contact isn’t always possible.Of course, the next best thing to an in-per ...

Today, the House voted to pass H.R. 9, the “Small Business Tax Cut Act,” by a vote of 235-173. This legislation would provide a 20-percent tax cut to companies employing 499 or fewer employees during either calendar year 2010 or 2011.  The way this works is that any business – without regard to revenues – would be given a tax deduction equal to 20 percent of that business’ net income.  For example, a business having 400 employees in 2011 with a net income of $20 million would get a deduction of ...

A look at the week of April 16 in public advocacy for the IT channel:  This week, the House announced changes to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act in response to criticism from privacy groups.  John O. Brennan, President Obama’s senior adviser on counterterrorism and homeland security, published an op-ed warning that cyber legislation must be passed quickly.  USA Today looks at the role of community colleges in workforce retraining initiatives for careers in fast growing industri ...

By now you know the JOBS Act was signed into law by the President on April 5.  This legislation includes six pre-existing bills, packaged together into a single piece of legislation.  Each of these provisions is intended to increase access to equity capital investment for small businesses: H.R. 1070 — Small Company Capital Formation Act – Increases small business SEC exemption from $5 million to $50 million. H.R. 2167 — Private Company Flexibility and Growth Act – Raises the shareholder threshol ...

Believe it or not, some solution providers scoff at the opportunity to support their clients’ printers and copiers, seeing it as more of a distraction than a true business opportunity. In a world filled with distractions, they’d rather keep their eyes focused on the networks, computers, servers and applications with which they’re more comfortable. The print functions are a forbidden fruit that many solution providers would rather leave to the “dealers.”Of course, over the past few years that “ot ...

CompTIA’s Unified Communications Community was challenged Thursday to re-think what they think about unified communications.“Unified communications as we define it is a myth,” Lawrence Walsh, president and CEO of The 2112 Group, told the group. “We talk about it as if it’s a product, but it’s an outcome. It’s whatever the end user wants it to be, the outcome desired by the customer.”Because of that, unified communications should be viewed as a dream by IT solution providers and system integrator ...

Takeaway of the week is that apparently the Easter Bunny didn’t walk away with all the goodies in his basket last week. For those in the technical sector, more nuggets are there for the taking without much hunting, including the top spot in a new national poll of the best jobs in the U.S., good news for IT contractors and even a thumbs-up for Silicon Valley job seekers in their *gasp* 40s. Bridging the IT Skills Gap Job fillers are having trouble finding job seekers properly prepped in the late ...

The IT industry has certainly been through its share of transformative business model changes. But what’s new about the current shift from on-premise to cloud is that it’s originating with end-users, speakers on a CompTIA Annual Member Meeting panel said on Wednesday.Speakers discussed what solution providers need to do to make the transition to a cloud services model. It doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning on-premise solutions completely, but more likely results in a hybrid model.For solution p ...

Trust can and should be the greatest asset an organization can have, Stephen M.R. Covey, author The Speed of Trust, Smart Trust and other best-selling books, told attendees at the CompTIA Annual Member Meeting Wednesday.“Nothing is as fast as the speed of trust,” Covey said in his keynote speech.” It’s not just trust as a social virtue. Rather, it’s an economic driver that can make a profound difference in your business. It’s an idea whose time has come.”When there is a low trust, everything tak ...

You know you need to be in the mobility market or at least embrace it for your customers, but are you struggling with how to capitalize on the opportunity and challenges mobility presents?  A panel of mobility experts at CompTIA’s Annual Member Meeting offered some answers for IT solutions providers struggling with that question.There’s no denying the growing trend of mobility.  Mobile device shipments eclipsed PC shipments for the first time 2011. Tablet shipments are expected to exceed 100 mil ...

Spam and virus aren’t going away, nor are hacking and other threats to your clients’ systems and data. Much like malaria and other illnesses that mankind attempts to control, IT security concerns may typically be managed but never fully resolved. Despite significant advances in technology to deal with the more traditional threats to a business’ systems and data, new and more complex security issues are introduced on an almost daily basis.How can solution providers deal with the ever-changing thr ...

From now until November 6th, CompTIA will provide special political updates, making note of interesting developments in the 2012 presidential race, as well as the all-important balance of power in the U.S. Congress.  Why does this matter?Decisions by the U.S. President and Congress have a direct effect on technology policies which in turn impact the everyday business of the IT channel.  To this end, CompTIA kicked off the political season with a bang at AMM, inviting renowned pollster, author an ...

Small IT businesses are more successful when they focus on generating demand and nurturing leagues rather than focusing on managing demand. That was one of the messages delivered today during a meeting of the CompTIA Small Business Owners Community.The group, which focuses on the development of best practices, business fundamental education and resources for emerging IT businesses with fewer than 20 employees, met this week at the CompTIA Annual Member Meeting.“We go out there and fix immediate ...

Are telemedicine, voice recognition and mobile applications emerging issues in healthcare IT, or current issues? What about dealing with fax machines – is it still an issue, or do solution providers not have to deal with it anymore? These were a few of the topics discussed at the CompTIA Healthcare IT Community meeting at the CompTIA Annual Member Meeting today in Chicago. The group began creating a roadmap of the healthcare IT industry, pinpointing emerging, current and fading issues ...