Wow, what a year 2017 has been so far! There is so much happening in the world around us and yet we just keep pushing forward, one foot in front of the other to get things done. That said, it’s easy to keep moving and never take the time to look back at what we’ve all accomplished. You know that saying: See the forest for the trees? Well, I want to take a moment to look at our forest – one that we’ve built up together over the past 10 months. And, I hope you take the time to take a look as well. After all, we couldn’t have done it without you!
We continue to grow. This year alone we have engaged more than 137,000 individuals! (That’s almost 50,000 more than in 2016.) Our Registered Users top 135,000 and that number keeps growing. That’s good news – not only for our association, but for our industry as a whole.
We were the change. At ChannelCon 2017 in Austin, Texas, we called on our members to “be the change” and they rose to the occasion. With 1,000-plus onsite attendees and more than 3,700 live-streamers participating via ChannelCon Online – we brought meaningful and valuable content to more than 4,700 IT pros and vendor companies – including keynoter Scott Belsky, who encouraged everyone to share their ideas liberally. Mark your calendars for our 2018 conference – July 31 to August 2 in Washington, D.C!
We published a magazine. CompTIAWorld made its debut at our Annual Member Meeting in March. The mission of the magazine is to keep you connected to everywhere CompTIA members excel and spark some good conversation and idea-sharing. The first two issues can be found online here, and the third issue will be available in spring 2018.
We published a book. Well, Creating IT Futures CEO Charles Easton published a book! The book, How to Launch Your Teen’s Career in Technology: A Parent’s Guide to the T in STEM Education, is part of CompTIA’s NextUp initiative to interest teens in tech careers. Eaton’s T in STEM guide provides parents of tweens and teenagers – from middle school through high school – with an insider’s view of today’s tech careers.
We converged on Capitol Hill. Members from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., in February to make their voices heard at the CompTIA DC Fly-In. This event grows each and every year and this year we honored New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Texas Representative Will Hurd, and North Carolina businessman Ron Culler as our 2017 CompTIA Tech Champions. We also championed draft legislation – the CHANCE in Tech Act – that will address the growing IT talent challenge. We’re picking up right where we left off on February 13 to 14 for the 2018 CompTIA DC Fly-In.
We introduced new legislation. In July, all that work came to fruition when we introduced the CHANCE in Tech Act to Congress. The CHANCE in Tech Act will ensure that quality candidates are recruited and provide compressed and targeted training to meet specific employer needs. Additionally, secondary schools will be recognized for ensuring their classrooms are teaching the necessary skills for students to compete in the 21st century workforce.
We honored our leaders. Our 2016 Member of the Year, MaximITy CEO Tracy Pound, was nominated by her peers for this award. Pound has been active with CompTIA since 2012, initially as a Trustmark assessor, faculty member and member of the UK Community Executive Council. She was elected to the CompTIA Board of Directors in 2016. And, our 2017 Channel Changers – Heather Ptak, community manager at ConnectWise; Melissa Lyons, global channel programs manager at Sophos; and Brandon Garcin, senior content strategist at Continuum Managed Services were honored for making a big impact in their respective companies.
We launched AITP. In August we formally launched the Association of Information Technology Professionals (CompTIA AITP) as a member support and advocacy organization that will attract and develop the workforce that will shape the 21st century economy. Taking a resume-to-recruitment approach, CompTIA AITP helps tech workers in their careers with a blend of online and in-person opportunities.
We made an impact in the public sector. Membership in CompTIA’s three public sector councils has grown another 19 percent this year with the addition of some pretty big names, including Google, SAIC, Mastercard, MarkLogic, Salesforce and VMware.
We put the digital economy at your fingertips. Cyberstates, the definitive guide to national-, state- and metropolitan-area tech sector and tech workforce analytics was launched in March. Cyberstates aggregates mountains of data and transforms it into easy to understand visuals and actionable insights. You can drill down as much as you want to see what’s happening in your area as well as around the country.
We projected industry growth. Our 2017 IT Outlook Study projected industry growth of 4.1 percent and identified 12 trends to watch in technology, workforce and the IT channel that are likely to impact the industry throughout the year. Were we right? Check out the report.
We hosted legislators at our headquarters. In September we hosted the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) for their 2017 Jobs Summit at our headquarters in Downers Grove, Illinois. With more than 65 legislators and staff in attendance from across the nation, CompTIA shared insight about the tech industry, as well as the great work and engagement by our member companies.
We added value to our communities. We added a new community this year and continued creating a variety of initiatives to further our members’ career development and business acumen.
- Our Advancing Diversity in Technology Community launched this year and has grown to 242 members since its inception at AMM. ADIT wasted no time getting started and has since developed the successful webinar Checking Unconscious Bias at the Door and developed the ADIT Ambassador Toolkit.
- Our Advancing Women in Technology Community rebranded this year and launched the Women in TechCast podcast series.
- Our Australian/New Zealand Community developed the ANZ Channel Industry Roadmap to capture technology and market trends in three categories – emerging, current and fading.
- Our Canadian IT Business Community delved into digital marketing by developing the well-attended webinar Understanding Digital Marketing from a Human Perspective.
- Our Cloud Community updated the Cloud Industry Roadmap to aid your business in the evaluation, adoption and implementation of new technologies as well as identify aging technologies where opportunities may be less attractive.
- Our Future Leaders Community brought attention to the importance of creating a comfortable workplace environment with the successful webinar Company Culture on a Budget.
- Our IT Security Community created the IT Security Perimeter Health Check as a guide to manually test your foundational security to ensure the proper controls are in place.
- Our Managed Services Community assisted with the creation of the Six Steps to Advancing Your Managed IT Services Business video.
- Our Technology Lifecycle Services Community is formerly known as the IT Services and Support group. The Community changed its name this year to better reflect how the group has evolved beyond the pure IT space to other technology-related fields. The Community also launched the Tech Services Success podcast series. The Managed Print Services Community also became a part of this group and launched several whitepapers.
- Our UK Channel Community is launching the Dream IT UK Power of One campaign which focuses on challenges individuals working in tech to talk to one young person about the opportunities of a career in IT. The group is also launching the UK Cyber Challenge which significantly raise the standards of cybersecurity amongst UK members and developed a series of resources to educate members on GDPR.
We took our advisory councils to the next level. We formed the Business Applications Advisory Council and are working on a Drone Advisory Council. We took our message mainstream to the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNBC, Mashable and Gartner. And, we gave back – to the tune of over $78,000 from over 750 donors via Heart to Heart to assist with hurricane relief efforts.
We couldn’t have accomplished any of this without the help of our engaged membership. We encourage you to stay active and stay involved – there’s lots more to come in 2018!
