CompTIA Volley

Carolyn and Seth take a look at CompTIA's latest research on the technology usage of small and mid-sized businesses. Technology is playing a huge role in these firms as they apply new models to business priorities with limited resources. The research covers the technology gaps that SMBs face, the desire to use emerging technology, and the usage of outside partners to accomplish technology strategy...

Carolyn and Seth review the highlights from CompTIA's latest research on Internet of Things, including adoption rates and skills that companies need for their projects. Then they take a brief look at a recent article from the New York Times covering the way that technology is dividing the workforce. CompTIA's 2019 Trends in Internet of Things: https://www.comptia.org/resources/2019-trends-in-inter...

Carolyn and Seth discuss the challenges with massive tech platforms, including unintended consequences, changes to the model, and the potential for lockin. Both consumers and businesses have more responsibility than ever to evaluate the platforms they are using and build exit strategies for when things go wrong. Farhad Manjoo on Twitter and journalism: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/opinion/co...

Carolyn and Seth give a preview of CompTIA's 2019 IT Industry Outlook, looking at three of the trends that will be featured. Cloud computing, edge computing, and 5G will form the new economic infrastructure. IoT and AI will drive advances in ambient computing. Companies enabling the business of technology will grow their skills and change their models to sell and support emerging technology. The I...

Carolyn and Seth take a look back at the year in technology. As tech has become more ingrained in business and society, the big story is that there is no single event or innovation that stands on its own. From social media to emerging technology, the discussions happening in the IT industry are becoming broader and more concerned with wide-reaching consequences, and the industry will have to adjus...

Carolyn and Seth talk with Teresa Sears, CompTIA's senior director of product development, about the upcoming A+ certification. The A+ certification is designed to build problem solvers for today's digital world, moving past traditional help desk activities to embrace a wide range of IT functions. The updated A+ will launch in January 2019, and Teresa describes some of the changes that IT pros can...

Carolyn and Seth review some work done by CompTIA's board of directors around successful vendors and MSPs. In building partner programs and working with clients, there are some new things to consider based on the changes in the IT industry. Vendors should think carefully about how they want to balance direct and indirect efforts, and MSPs must decide how they can fit into an end user's technology...

Carolyn and Seth sit down with Nancy Hammervik, CompTIA's Executive Vice President of Membership. Nancy describes the 2019 strategies that came out of the recent membership planning meeting, where CompTIA's volunteer leaders set a course to improve the adoption of technology and the customer experience.

Carolyn and Seth take a look at the technology landscape through the lens of the upcoming holidays. We talk about one thing that scares us about the current tech scene, one thing that we're thankful for, and one thing that we have on our wish list.

Carolyn and Seth talk about CompTIA's latest research report, which focuses on how companies are forming teams focused on cybersecurity. Improving skills and defining metrics are two key parts of creating effective teams, which often mix internal and external resources depending on the size and technical capabilities of an organization. 2018 Trends in Cybersecurity report: https://www.comptia.org/...

Carolyn and Seth talk with Charles Eaton, Executive VP of Social Innovation for CompTIA and CEO of the Creating IT Futures Foundation. Charles talks about CompTIA's philanthropic efforts, including a partnership with the Tech Students Association, work with employers around non-traditional career paths, and the IT Ready program from Creating IT Futures that provides an on-ramp for adults seeking a...

Carolyn and Seth give a preview of CompTIA's upcoming research study on the state of the IT channel. Emerging technology and vertical specialization are driving new dynamics among traditional channel firms, and a wide range of companies providing technology enablement are creating a more diverse environment. The new study will be available on comptia.org the week of September 18. Previous research...

Carolyn and Seth welcome their daughters Olivia and Kate to the podcast. As the girls head off to college, we have a discussion about technology usage and viewpoints.

Carolyn and Seth welcome Bryn McCoy, founder of LuxLab, to talk about incorporating human values into technology design. As AI and IoT create new and more complicated interfaces for technology interaction, it is becoming more important than ever to consider the impact and usability of the technology products being created.

Carolyn and Seth give a preview of CompTIA's ChannelCon event, taking place July 31-August 3 in Washington, DC. Catch a sneak peek of sessions covering IoT, operational efficiency, emerging technology, and diversity. There is much more happening onsite and online! ChannelCon main site:  www.comptia.org/channelcon ChannelCon online registration:  www.comptia.org/channelcon/agenda…channelcon-online

Carolyn and Seth interview CompTIA's Patrick Lane about the new certification coming at the end of the month. PenTest+ certifies skills that are used to proactively test internal networks for vulnerabilities. The cert is a companion to CySA+, which performs network analytics in order to detect vulnerabilities.

Carolyn and Seth chat with Tim Fitzgerald, VP of Cloud Channel Sales at Ingram, about the evolution of the distributor in the modern IT industry. As actual distribution of products becomes a less critical part of the ecosystem, distributors still play a role in aggregating solutions, simplifying complexity, and assisting technology firms as they meet the needs of end users.

Carolyn and Seth welcome Gail Holmberg, area managing partner at Fortium Partners, to discuss the shift companies are taking towards strategic IT. CompTIA's most recent whitepaper explores this topic, and Gail shares her experiences in working with clients and seeing the hurdles they encounter as they pursue digital transformation. CompTIA's Using Strategic IT for Competitive Advantage whitepaper:...

Carolyn and Seth welcome Randy Gross, CompTIA's CIO and EVP of Certification Operations, to discuss the impact of GDPR on data policies and the greater degree of focus that companies are placing on data management.

Carolyn and Seth take a look at CompTIA's latest research study focusing on cloud computing. After a decade of experience with cloud, companies are moving to a new stage of adoption where cloud is not just a new way of running existing IT applications, but a new way of thinking about IT. Technical professionals and technology providers need to discover how to add value in this new environment, whe...

Carolyn and Seth talk about the latest research from CompTIA, exploring operational efficiency within IT channel firms. If customer demand is driving transformation, that transformation may be happening at a portfolio level or business model level, and true digital transformation of operations requires channel firms to examine their internal processes and apply the same technology they are selling...

Carolyn and Seth welcome Forrester's Jay McBain live from Channel Partners Conference and Expo in Las Vegas. The three analysts discuss the IT channel and the way it is changing--including whether it should even be called "the channel" anymore. The modern IT industry has evolved over the past decade, and a new set of relationships and value-add opportunities is now in place.

Carolyn and Seth discuss the growing pains that are taking place as the tech sector reaches a new stage of maturity and achieves unprecedented scope. Since technology has become a major drive in the economy rather than a niche player, the behavior of tech companies is evaluated differently. And since technology is becoming more integrated with everyday life, reliability must be prioritized over ex...

Carolyn and Seth welcome CompTIA's Sr Vice President of Research, Tim Herbert, to discuss the upcoming Cyberstates report. Cyberstates is CompTIA's premier guide to technology activity from state to state, covering workforce issues, patents, and economic contribution of technology. On the podcast, Tim gives a preview with discussion of overall trends across different job categories and the issues...

Carolyn and Seth welcome Aaron Leveston, national account manager at RingCentral. The three of them take a look at CompTIA's latest research, Diversity in the High Tech Industry, and discuss why diversity is such a problem for the tech sector, what changes could be made in the recruiting process, and how diversity should be connected to revenue. CompTIA's report:  www.comptia.org/resources/technol...