CompTIA Blog

Todd was featured on WGN Midday News today giving some tips on how to keep your mobile devices and information safe while travelling this holiday season. The CompTIA President and CEO urged travelers to keep their devices password-protected and to use secure connections.But “the overwhelming biggest security risk is just people not paying attention,” Thibodeaux told anchor Steve Sanders. Even if it’s a hassle, your laptop should always be with you, Thibodeaux advised.Having trouble viewing this ...

I was recently on Capitol Hill talking with staffers on both sides of the aisle whose job it is to focus on legislation impacting small businesses. To their credit they are always open to the feedback and ideas of the small business community so we had many opportunities to tell the same disappointing story.As the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was being drafted and put into law our industry was supportive. It wasn’t a perfect bill by any stretch, but there were enough reasons to ...

We have been asked by the US Trade Representative to participate in an SMEs in Trade seminar to be kicked off by Ambassador Kirk on January 21st. As part of that event, we will be providing some VAR speakers and will conduct a survey of small IT companies who export. We will partner with the Coalition of Service Industries and the National Association of Manufacturers in this event. Visit www.comptia.org/publicpolicy or contact Robert Kramer for more information. ...

On Tuesday Dec. 15th CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux and a delegation of CompTIA and the Technology Leadership Political Action Committee (TLPAC) companies will attend five Congressional Committee meetings with key House and Senate committees and staff to pitch a number of proposals to help VARs weather the recession and create jobs. The mini-fly-in led by Todd and CompTIA Treasurer Oli Thordarson will include an explanation of the “Growth Tech Capital Initiative” designed to apply stimu ...

Want to give back while widening your brand with the newest bright stars in our industry?  Let us help!With the CompTIA Education Foundation, you can establish merit award scholarships in your name for students pursuing IT careers. When you endow the IT Merit Awards Scholarships, you can designate the scholarships to a preferred under-represented population or to a geographic location where you do business. You even can make the scholarship presentations, thereby creating a positive publicity op ...

At last week’s jobs summit the President heard from business, labor and academic leaders as they brainstormed about getting America back to work. Over the past decade, small businesses have created between 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs, as well as countless technological innovations.  Yet the major role small businesses play in our economy and job creation was seemingly downplayed at the summit.Next week in Washington, CompTIA’s Public Policy office will host several small, California tech co ...

We challenged our employees last summer to a staff fundraising contest for the CompTIA Educational Foundation, raising $50,000 to fund IT training and certification for people in need.  And we’re gearing up to hold a second contest in early 2010. From May through July last year, six teams composed of three to five employees each developed their own fundraising techniques in a heated competition to see which team could raise the most money for the Foundation’s Creating Futures ...

I’m a big fan of The Onion. Yes, it sometimes trades in cheap laughs, but more often than not, it delivers clever satirical observations on some aspect of society. As a technology geek and researcher, I find the technology related stories especially brilliant.The recent Onion article New Device Desirable, Old Device Undesirable, deftly captures the conundrum of a constantly changing tech landscape (the article is CE focused, but could just as easily apply to IT).Thanks to a seemingly endless sup ...

Last week I blogged about our Focus on HealthIT and received a number of responses from you about how you can get more involved with CompTIA and share your input in CompTIA initiatives.It's easy!  Go to www.comptia.org and check out the membership tab.  You will find information about our various IT communities, the current focus of each community, upcoming meetings, events, etc.  Choose the one that interests you most and contact the community manager listed for that community.  It's that easy. ...

“Shall we play a game?”  asked a young Matthew Broderick’s computer in the 1983 hit movie War Games.  The computer’s creepy synthetic voice and the underlying current of the Cold War conveyed the seriousness of this seemingly innocent question.  Three decades later, CompTIA – the leading IT trade association – is asking the same question.  And while the stakes aren’t as high as global thermonuclear war, to the small business owners wh ...

Last week, we blogged about our Getting America Back To Work program.  Here is a bit more information on how to get involved if you’re an individual who is interested in pursuing a career in IT.Your first step is to find the nearest One-Stop Career Center to by going to http://www.servicelocator.org/. If your One-Stop Career Center is unfamiliar with the Program refer them to http://www.comptia.org/certifications/backtowork.aspx to find technical assessment tools, CompTIA certification training ...

The opportunities for VARs in the HealthIT segment are plentiful and growing.  There is an influx of resources from the federal stimulus package and an intensified focus on building solid infrastructure to support healthcare reform.  These trends represent tremendous opportunities for you if you know how to capitalize on them.In the coming months, we will be writing a series of articles and creating resources, toolkits, research and educational materials to help you better understand the healthc ...

The channel is embracing social media in a number of ways and not just for staying in touch with partners or vendors but for commerce as well! As your industry trade association, if we’re going to help you make sense of it all we need to get onboard too.Things are changing at CompTIA to better serve our members and the channel as a whole. And while I welcome your calls, emails and notes on any topic this blog will hopefully provide you the chance to stay up-to-date on a more regular basis.I invi ...

CompTIA launched today a new initiative aimed at boosting high-tech employment opportunities. CompTIA’s Getting America Back to Work initiative will assist local Workforce Investment Boards across the country and their “One-Stop Centers” to help individuals with adequate technical aptitude gain the training and certifications needed to secure IT jobs. The program is designed to streamline the process that Workforce Investment Boards and One-Stop Centers use to place unemployed individuals, caree ...

One of my favorite sections of the Harvard Business Review is the case study. It’s the business version of the Kobayashi Maru, a no-win situation that forces you to think about the best of bad options. The October 2009 issue featured a case study titled, When Hackers Turn to Blackmail. Intriguing enough, but the fun begins when you delve in and learn that it’s a hospital being blackmailed over access to their electronic medical records. With lives potentially at stake, the drama unfolds. Who sai ...