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March 27, 2017 by Brian Sherman
How can the IT industry reduce its growth limiting skills gap? By encouraging and empowering members of the black and Hispanic communities, and that's a key goal of the new Advancing Diversity in Technology (ADIT) Community. How will they do it? The details (and options) were major topics during the CompTIA Annual Member meeting in Chicago.
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March 22, 2017 by Michelle Lange
MaximITy CEO Tracy Pound keeps her cherry red manicure in check, prefers fast cars and refuses to back down.
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March 16, 2017 by Brian Sherman
Of all the changes that have taken place in the channel over the past ten years, one the most significant transitions did not directly involve technology or business models. The new IT decision makers are now everywhere in an organization. How does that affect VARs and MSPs? Quite a bit, as most are finding out.
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March 3, 2017 by Michelle Lange
Accept the Women’s History Month Challenge: Take meaningful steps each week over the next four weeks to be a mentor, tackle the wage gap, support diversity in technology and address the big picture of women in tech.
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February 3, 2017 by Brian Sherman
There are several alternate options available to those looking for ways to fund large projects and IT services expansion plans. From alternate “money” channels that didn’t exist a decade ago, to ideas that boost cash flow, there are new ways for channel firms to better leverage traditional bank lending systems (or eliminate the need for them all together).
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December 19, 2016 by Cassandra Anderson
Cassandra Anderson, vice president of channel, sales operations and marketing at Crexendo, shares her thoughts on sales playbooks.
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December 14, 2016 by Brian Sherman
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.
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November 18, 2016 by Brian Sherman
Partnerships are a crucial element of the IT channel and they come in all shapes and forms. But how can solution providers possibly be expected to work effectively with the dozens of vendors in their supply chain? The truth is, they shouldn’t.
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November 2, 2016 by Carolyn April
Is it time for a cloud reality check in the channel? Have you considered if this technology model is having a positive or negative impact on your business? According to the CompTIA 6th Annual State of the Channel study, there are no black or white answers. In fact, the latest research actually exposes more confusion than conclusion.
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October 18, 2016 by John Tippett
CompTIA 2016 Member of the Year John Tippett reflects on what an honor the award been for him both personally and professionally.
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October 17, 2016 by Brian Sherman
Solution providers tend to dabble in the SaaS space, but few have active engagements with one or more vendors on “the other side” of the tech fence. To be fair, few of the developers in this parallel channel seem to understand (or acknowledge) the value solution providers bring to the tech delivery equation. Some feel this lack of cooperation and collaboration is detrimental to both groups. But what can we do to change it?
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October 4, 2016 by Joe Priestley
Joe Priestley is IT director for Corn Belt Energy, the largest energy distribution cooperative in Illinois. He’s also a founding member of CompTIA’s End User Commission. Here he shares his thoughts on service provider contracts; specifically what can undo them.
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September 28, 2016 by Brian Sherman
Despite the negative expectations of some in the industry skeptics, a number of IT distribution companies continue to strengthen their channel value propositions and their business models. And, if the M&A activities of the last two months are any indication of what’s ahead, buckle your seat belts
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September 21, 2016 by Brian Sherman
Many solution providers have been somewhat reluctant to discuss the true amount of break fix and onsite services they deliver. When you get a chance to dig into the details, you may find they're delivering a lot more of that support than you'd expect. Despite experts predicting that virtually every provider would be a "pure play MSP" by now, the reality is much different.
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September 1, 2016 by Suzanne Collier
CompTIA’s 2016 Vendor Summit last month asked a range of hard questions on the current state of distribution.
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August 15, 2016 by Nick Beaugeard
Need help tackling security concepts or struggling to see eye-to-eye with customers on security concerns? The CompTIA IT Security Community’s new educational videos on critical cybersecurity could be the ticket to understanding best practices, education programs and industry standards.
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August 12, 2016 by Daniel Margolis
Learn how behavior interviewing can help you look behind and beyond the resume and avoid bad hires.
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August 11, 2016 by Brian Sherman
Looking to add a new specialization to your business or expand your customer reach? Or, on the flip side, are you hoping to cash out and retire in a few years? Either way, there are a number of things you need to know before pursuing M&A discussions. The ChannelCon 2016 discussion on mergers and acquisitions strategies covered a lot of those topic. Moderated by Joe Panettieri, Content Czar of ChannelE2E, this panel discussion featured five IT industry executives with a lot of great M&A stories and ideas to share.
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August 8, 2016 by Brian Sherman
Many customers don’t know the difference between “complying” with standards and regulations and actually being secure. Those misperceptions have to be addressed early on in the solution conversation to prevent major issues (and significant blame) from occurring later. That was just one of the observations made by panelists in the Common Problems Encountered in Security Compliance session at ChannelCon 2016.
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August 4, 2016 by Daniel Margolis
Two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Peyton Manning spoke at CompTIA ChannelCon at the Diplomat Resort & Spa Hollywood this week, stressing teamwork and adaptability in a speech that frequently drew comparisons between football and business.
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August 1, 2016 by Brian Sherman
One of the toughest things for new IT services business owners is planning out their portfolios. What services do you need to offer to satisfy existing clients and attract new customers? Security has become one of the biggest differentiators for MSPs today and the topic of expanding those offerings created some interesting conversations in the CompTIA Partner Advisory Council meeting at ChannelCon 2016.
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July 19, 2016 by Brian Sherman
Encryption should be a normal part of the channel security discussion today, ensuring that clients understand the options and benefits these technologies provide. That conversation should also extend to email and backup and disaster recovery solutions. If data could eventually be transmitted across the internet, it’s a prime candidate for encryption.
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June 9, 2016 by Miles Jobgen
Learn all about thenew CompTIA Channel Standards for Managed IT Solution Providers. These industry best practices and baseline business measures were designed in great part by your peers; those who have built successful managed services practices. Along with a number of other subject matter experts (SMEs), they compiled a list of essential business activities, tools and customer-oriented practices. They ranked issues and opportunities for providers based on their unique perspective and experience and we documented each step and process that would help both new and established providers attain their wildest MSP ambitions.
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May 16, 2016 by CompTIA
CompTIA ChannelChangers are making a difference in the industry. Here is one of their stories, and how their career has benefited from becoming a ChannelChanger.
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April 18, 2016 by Brian Sherman
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