CompTIA Volley

Carolyn and Seth welcome back Amy Carrado, CompTIA's senior director of workforce and internal research, to talk about the latest trends among job seekers. CompTIA's latest research continues a multi-year study on attitudes and challenges of people looking for a new career. The group talks about changing perceptions of the job market, the different motivations based on industry, and the future of...

Carolyn and Seth talk about the challenges facing organizations as they deal with changing generational dynamics in the workforce. Most of the attention in recent years has been on the behaviors and preferences of younger workers as they enter the workforce, but there is an equally significant shift taking place with older workers. As people are living longer and changing their expectations around...

Carolyn and Seth welcome Brad Chamberlain, who teaches technology courses at Maricopa High school in Arizona and oversees a student-led business called 24PinTech. Brad discusses the current challenges and opportunities in preparing students for success in technology careers and every other career which requires some tech fluency. Building a foundation of knowledge around technology systems and cyb...

Carolyn and Seth welcome Joe Dery from Western Governors University to talk about the evolution and importance of data management and analytics. The group talks about the changes that have taken place over the years in how companies handle data, the most important actions to take for a modern data approach, and the need to have foundational data principles before pushing forward with an AI strateg...

Carolyn and Seth talk about the business climate in 2024. Major trends like AI and cybersecurity governance will transform the landscape, but organizations will be operating inside a new environment as they make decisions on these initiatives. The possible soft landing for the economy, the complexity of digital transformation, and the challenge of building digital skills are all factors that will...

Carolyn and Seth take a look at the year's biggest technology stories, with many of those being among the biggest overall headlines in 2023. AI dominated technology discussions, but how is it actually changing business? Social media came under the spotlight for many reasons, and the future of the sector may be in question. After the year started with layoffs from large technology firms, technology...

Carolyn and Seth give a preview of CompTIA's upcoming IT Industry Outlook 2024 research report. After starting with an overview of the positive sentiments shared by IT pros and IT channel firms, the discussion turns to two of the major areas covered by trends in the report. AI continues to be the biggest topic in technology, and while the hype may fade to some degree in 2024, AI will continue to d...

Carolyn and Seth talk with James Stanger, CompTIA's Chief Technology Evangelist, about the steps companies are taking to make IT a strategic imperative. The shift from tactical IT to strategic IT has been taking place for some time now, and there are two main issues businesses have been running into. First is Shadow IT, where business units procure their own technology. Second is Cowboy IT, where...

Carolyn and Seth welcome back Randy Gross, CompTIA's CISO, to take a tech-flavored tour of the upcoming holidays. The group chats about the frightening possibilities of cyberattacks on mobile devices, as that platform appears to have reached a tipping point in terms of cybercrime. Then they shift gears, highlighting AI as something to be thankful for. Even with many questions left to answer, AI is...

Carolyn and Seth welcome Chris Cochran, Cofounder of Hacker Valley Media and Advisory CISO at Huntress, to discuss some real-world cybersecurity issues. The group talks about the biggest challenges in cybersecurity, especially for small businesses trying to change their mindset. They also touch on the demand for cybersecurity skills and the implications of AI for cybersecurity strategies.

Carolyn and Seth review the highlights from CompTIA's State of Cybersecurity 2024 research report. As companies are taking a more strategic view of technology, they are also taking a more strategic view of cybersecurity. This means adopting a risk management approach to define cybersecurity initiatives and building cybersecurity processes that drive decisions throughout the organization. At a tact...

Carolyn and Seth talk with Teresa Sears, CompTIA's VP of Product Management, about the upcoming Xpert Series certifications. Companies of all sizes and industries are increasing their demand for technical expertise, including the highest level of specialists. These experts in infrastructure, data and cybersecurity create long-term strategic plans that align with business objectives and oversee imp...

Carolyn and Seth talk about key items that should be considered by anyone thinking about starting up a tech services business. The environment has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, and alongside the specific technology services to be offered, there are four critical components to getting started in the tech space. Business functions such as finance, HR and legal must be integrated into...

Carolyn and Seth step into the time machine to explore a nearly-forgotten buzzword: SoCloMo. The concept--combining Social, Cloud, and Mobile--may not have lasted long, but it represented a possible inflection point for IT. Many believed that these three trends would usher in an era of consumerization of IT, where line-of-business employees would be driving technology procurement and utility. That...

Carolyn and Seth welcome Jabu Dayton, Principal of Jabu HR and CompTIA board member, to discuss the issues managed service providers are facing as they try to cultivate a strong workforce. Jabu describes how many MSP issues are similar to general SMB issues, where some type of formal HR function is increasingly necessary to handle the changing needs of the workforce. As employee expectations are c...

Carolyn and Seth talk about the rise in interest around outcome-based pricing as companies come to grips with the new realities of technology budgets. As firms move further away from a tactical cost center mindset around technology, they are finding their investments growing and exploring shifts away from traditional models of subscriptions or costs per user. End user firms are pushing vendors and...

Carolyn and Seth welcome Marisol Angelini to the podcast to discuss digital transformation. Marisol is a former executive of Coca Cola who now advises boards of various companies, and she suggests that digital transformation is really business transformation, since the technology is changing the way businesses operates. She shares how digital initiatives thrive best with the support of upper manag...

Carolyn and Seth talk about the changes taking place in IT channel M&A activity. As the channel has grown, there are fewer purchases of micro-sized MSPs and more mega mergers. At the same time, the IT ecosystem has expanded to include a wider variety of business models, and there may be larger firms trying to diversify their portfolio by making strategic acquisitions. A standard MSP on the sma...

Carolyn and Seth welcome MJ Shoer, CompTIA's Chief Community Officer, to give a preview of this year's ChannelCon event. Held jointly with CompTIA's Partner Summit, the two events bring together all of CompTIA's audiences to discuss the latest trends in technology and workforce development. The theme for this year's ChannelCon is Build the Impossible, and attendees will have the chance to network...

Carolyn and Seth welcome Ken Sardoni, CompTIA's Senior Vice President of Learning Programs, to talk about the field of data. Companies have had digital data for a long time, but for most of that time only the largest companies had any sort of formal management. Recently, companies of all sizes are using cloud tools and new data structures to more effectively manage and analyze their data for compe...

Carolyn and Seth take a look at the supply and demand of tech workforce skills, using data from two of CompTIA's recent studies, State of the Tech Workforce and Workforce & Learning Trends. From the demand side, tech jobs are expected to continue outpacing the general growth of the labor market in the U.S., with data and cybersecurity leading the way. From the supply side, T-shaped skills are...

Carolyn and Seth do a deep dive on the upcoming State of the Channel report from CompTIA research. While the overall technology ecosystem is growing and adding new firms with new services, there is still a segment of businesses performing traditional channel activities. These companies are still seeing strong profits, though part of that comes from cost-cutting measures taken over the past year. B...

Carolyn and Seth start a two-part series giving a preview of the upcoming State of the Channel report. In this episode, they welcome John Harden, senior product manager for SaaS at Auvik. John talks about the changing ecosystem of vendors and competitors in the IT channel, driven by the explosion of choice and the shift away from infrastructure and toward business solutions. Both customer experien...

Carolyn and Seth talk with CompTIA Chief Innovation Officer Nate Garner about the latest trends in software development. There are far more companies performing software development than there were in the days of packaged software, and there are many challenges in building a efficient software practice. As businesses work on assembling the right skills and changing organizational behavior, they ca...

Carolyn and Seth give a recap of CompTIA's Communities and Councils Forum that took place in Chicago this week. The event provided networking opportunities for CompTIA's members and also re-introduced the Cybersecurity Trustmark along with recognizing some of CompTIA's most engaged members with Spotlight Awards. The content at the event was driven by research, and Carolyn and Seth go through the f...