ChannelPro-SMB - CompTIA Breakaway Blog

CompTIA Board of Directors Establishes Long-Term Strategic Objectives

Guest Blogger — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:10:00 GMT

During a Board of Directors meeting held in conjunction with Breakaway, CompTIA was directed to: expand its influence on public policy issues affecting the industry; develop new programs to produce a pipeline of skilled tech workers; provide more resources for association members; and become more active in engaging, connecting and informing the industry, media and key leaders about major trends affecting the global IT industry.

“The future direction of CompTIA will be built on these four pillars,” said Robert O’Malley, chairman of the CompTIA Board of Directors. “There are many opportunities for people to contribute to these efforts, and we invite participation from all corners of our industry to join us in becoming ambassadors of all that’s great about the tech industry.”

Best of Breakaway Award Winners Announced

Guest Blogger — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:58:00 GMT

During a ceremony held Wednesday night at Breakaway 2009, eight IT companies were awarded the Best of Breakaway Award for outstanding products or services. More than 400 technology resellers and solution providers who attended the annual conference participated in the voting to determine the winners.

“The IT industry is powered by a rich blend of software, hardware, services and skills,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and chief executive officer, CompTIA. “We’re pleased that many of these companies chose Breakaway as a showcase for their products. On behalf of the worldwide membership of CompTIA, congratulations to the winners of the Best of Breakaway awards as selected by their industry peers and partners. “

The Best of Show award was presented to it Control Solutions, Toronto, which provides IT service providers with a powerful managed services solution, itControl Suite.

ClearCenter, based in Salt Lake City and Toronto, and provider of an open service delivery platform tailored to fit the IT needs of small business, won the award for Best New Product.

The Best Channel Strategy award was won by Level Platforms, Ottawa, a leading provider of managed services software for IT solution providers servicing small and midsize end customers.

Motorola, Inc. Schaumburg, Ill., a global communications leader in broadband communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility, public safety solutions, high-definition video and mobile devices, received the award for Best Presentation.

The award for Best Partner Program was presented to Xerox Corporation, Norwalk, Conn., a global leader and innovator in document and office management solutions.

Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, Calif., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, received the award for Best Product, Hardware.

Two companies tied for the Best Product, Software award:
Autotask Corporation, East Greenbush, N.Y., the leading SaaS provider of hosted service management tools that allow VARs, managed service providers and other IT service professionals to organize, automate, and better manage their businesses.

ConnectWise, Tampa, Fla., the leading Web-based professional service automation (PSA) software application designed exclusively for technology consultants, integrators and developers.

Other awards presented at the Breakaway dinner included the CompTIA Educational Foundation’s Outstanding Leadership Award to Certiport, American Fork, Utah, which prepares individuals with current and relevant digital skills and credentials for the competitive global workforce; and the CompTIA Services Leadership Award to Doriana Allyn of Brother International, Bridgewater, N.J., one of the premier providers of products for the home, home office and office.

Earlier in the day two awards were presented by the CompTIA Education to Careers (E2C) program, to Russell “Kelly’ Campbell of Ozarks Technical Community College, Springfield, Mo.; and to Lansing Community College, Lansing, Mich.

Congratulations to all the Breakaway award winners!

Business Guru Verne Harnish Teaches Breakaway Attendees How to Grow Their Businesses

Guest Blogger — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:21:00 GMT

Verne Harnish, founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs' Organization and founder and CEO of Gazelles, Inc., conducted a two-day workshop entitled Strategic Business Planning during Breakaway. The first day of the hands-on, interactive workshop focused on the development of a one-page strategic business plan. “I often hear business owners say ‘If I could only get everyone on my team on the same page’ but they must have the page for them to be on!” Harnish said. On the first day, Harnish walked the workshop participants through the development of the plan, concentrating on people and strategy. Topics included hiring, goal setting, differentiating yourself from your competition and driving alignment and performance within your company.

Part two of the business workshop centered on execution, organized around the highly regarded one-page Rockefeller Habits checklist. Topics included metrics that drive your business, organizational structure and essential habits to efficiently manage your business. Harnish stressed the importance of getting customer feedback but warned participants that the bulk of customer calls won’t yield much useful data. “You are looking for that black swan moment,” Harnish said. He urged participants to regularly and systematically interview customers in pursuit of the useful bit of intelligence that will help them build their businesses. Also, Harnish suggested that information be regularly shared with the entire team. “Great companies spend 20% of their weekly meetings discussing what they have learned from customers,” Harnish said. He illustrated this point with success stories from the business world.

The workshop was very well attended and the audience was highly engaged on both days. Harnish asked many questions of the audience, surveyed and interviewed them, and made the material directly relevant to the individuals in the audience. This was truly a workshop – not a lecture, and Harnish is a truly gifted teacher. Participants came away with the knowledge, tools and motivation they will need to grow their businesses strategically and effectively. It was easily worth the time.

IT, Crime and Jurisdiction

Guest Blogger — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:20:00 GMT

Members of the CompTIA Executive Forum had a guest speaker this evening. James Earl, Executive Director of Nevada's Technological Crime Advisory Board, reviewed recent state legislation "relating to security of personal information." Among the issues in play in Nevada? What is the definition of "doing business" in a particular state.

Congressman Issa Shares His Views on the Role Government and Trade Associations Can Play in Advancing Small Business and the Technology Industry

Guest Blogger — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:17:00 GMT

During a dinner keynote address at Breakaway this evening, Representative Darrell Issa (R-California) was interviewed by Larry Irving, president of Irving Information Group and co-chair of the Internet Innovation Alliance. The following are excerpts from Representative Issa’s remarks.

On the subject of the voice of small business in Washington, Representative Issa suggested that attendees leverage trade associations to plan meetings with the appropriate people in government and approach them with a clear problem and some thoughtful solutions.

“Your trade association is by definition part of how you get heard as a small business. Small business has to be helped very specifically by somebody who knows the needs of that industry or business. You have a better chance of getting heard through this association than you do through the Chamber (of Commerce) and so on that are all things to all people.”

When asked what if anything government should be doing with regard to broadband Representative Issa had quite a lot to say.

“Broadband is not it is not the deliverance just of data. Broadband is the deliverance of your television signal and other video content including video on demand and certainly phone service. Other services are going to keep coming. The question is are we going to take our copyright and all of our other laws that have divided up who gets what content, and modernize them… What if we simply said, that whoever you chose to provide (content) to your business or your home -- as long as they provide the full spectrum of services which they all want to do -- you should have the inherent right to get the content… Then all we have to do is say that we are not allowing contracts that historically said that cable gets this in return for that and terrestrial must give this, those are obsolete. The consumer should own the right to pick from the pipes that come to their house... Why shouldn’t the consumer get to say ‘you guys will have to compete, but you can’t compete on the content because I own the rights to the content.’ That’s a change that would be huge… So if this young lady in the front row owned the right to all the content she wanted and then got to choose the carrier, rather than the carrier negotiating and ultimately ending up with a monopoly (on the content) broadband deployment everywhere would be improved by having all the tools.”

Representative Issa went on to discuss his views on cyber security, electronic medical records and the nature of politics. The awards ceremony began shortly after and is still going on as I write this (stay tuned for information on the award winners).

IT instructors & trainers attending Breakaway's Education to Careers track this afternoon heard a familiar theme: Do more with less.

Guest Blogger — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:42:00 GMT

In the "New Skills That a Teacher Should be Training Right Now" session, Clyde Cox of College of DuPage (COD) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, told fellow educators that the cost of equipment & courseware for their classes should no longer be the obstacle it once was. Using free open-source tools, such as the Ekiga softphone, Cox was able to cut in half the cost of developing his Convergence+ course at COD. Other than cutting out Webcams and wishing there were better textbooks, Cox says the class is comprehensive without breaking the budget. Ask him more about his techniques by reaching him at coxclyde@cod.edu .

Hermine Turner explained how to use virtual machines for technology training in her session: “Quick Change Artist.” As the Senior Technology Trainer for Focus: Hope ITC (Information Technology Center) — non-profit group promoting growth opportunities for Detroit’s diverse urban community – Turner found that one “can’t teach technology on donated machines.” Not only is the processing power a few generations behind the curve, but the software is rarely up to date. Budget to address both issues is rarely – if ever – available. Using virtual machines reduces the number of desktops necessary in the classroom, meaning students literally learn more with less. Find out more about Turner’s techniques by reaching her at turnerh@focushope.edu .

In researching his topic – “What’s Hot Now in a Cold Economy” – Professor Karl Dietrich of Lansing (Michigan) Community College found that demand for IT jobs continues to hold steady and, in some regions, increase. And another long-standing issue in the IT job market hasn’t gone away either: Employers wanting at least 2 years experience. How do instructors help students coming out of high school and college beat the experience bug? By teaching them how to do what every good IT specialist should do: Document, document, document. Fresh faces in the job market may overcome the lack of on-the-job experience by showing the extent of their classroom training and accomplishments. How? Reach out to Dietrich for more at dietrick@lcc.edu .