Just 10 years ago, all an experienced IT professional needed to start his or her own services business was a hearty desire to succeed, a solid work ethic and an accountant to keep track of the influx of cash. Skill was, and continues to be, an essential ingredient in the success of solution provider companies, but over time, the organizational fundamentals have also grown in importance.
Successful IT solution providers have to work effectively on both sides of the house today, with a firm grasp on the technologies and support aspect of their business, as well as a strong handle on their back office operations. If either part of the organization fails to fulfill its responsibilities or falls below industry standards, the risks to profitability and future business opportunities are sure to rise. While most entrepreneurs focus more on the prospects than on the threats, the potential for failure motivates a number of providers.
Regardless of the inspiration, VARs and MSPs must pay careful attention to the latest industry best practices and assess the need for change inside their own organizations. They must keep a close eye on the technology advancements that will affect their customers, and alter their product and service portfolios accordingly. Of course, virtually every new IT development requires a subsequent security countermeasure to protect infrastructure and information, so each of those systems and their protection schemes must be evaluated and tested before they can be rolled out to business customers.
Line card expansion isn’t as easy as it used to be. In addition to learning the specifications of each product and service, solution providers have to ensure that each team member has the specific information and skills they need to properly support the new offering. With cloud and mobility solutions, vendors often provide training and best practice tips to help ensure proper security measures are in place, but the real proficiency comes from experience, as well as industry-supported education and community discussions.
An effective modern network protection scheme has ten times the complexity – perhaps more, according to some experts – it did in 2003. With so much vital business and personal information contained on Internet-connected computer systems today, the damage from a breach can be catastrophic. When regulatory compliance requirements and legal exposure are added to the mix, as well as the exponential growth of network attacks from unknown sources, the value of an experienced, successful IT security professional has never been greater.
So how can solution providers attain that elite and highly-profitable status? As with most IT practices, it requires a lot of foundational work – starting with development of a customer-specific strategy, followed by the step-by-step design of the company’s solution offerings. Since most business’ security needs vary, that plan should be flexible enough to address the requirements of each individual client. That may necessitate a rather comprehensive sales and solutions training program, as well as a wide variety of educational resources to help solution providers properly address all their customers’ breach and protection concerns.
Those who are familiar with CompTIA will understand the vast array of programs and materials its member communities have helped develop over the past few years. That resource repository includes a number of security-practice-specific training sessions, educational webinars and other business-related tools designed to help solutions providers succeed in this thriving tech segment.
Several of these programs will be available to attendees of the upcoming CompTIA ChannelCon, with a variety of expert-lead discussions and workshops on the agenda. Those professional courses include:
- CompTIA Quick Start to Tackling Cloud Security Concerns: Discuss the issues related to this innovative delivery model and learn how to alleviate their concerns while increasing your revenue.
- Capstone session for the Online Executive Certificate in IT Security (Intermediate) for those who have completed and passed e-learning courses 1 through 3. Learn more about the course program here.
- Executive Certificate in Data Recovery and Business Continuity (CompTIA Channel Training) Workshops: Attendees will learn the foundational skills and best practices needed to create a successful client service.
Of course, ChannelCon includes a wide variety of creative networking opportunities that will allow security professionals to actively engage with their peers, industry experts and key executives from a number of channel organizations. Of course, time is running out, so register today!
Brian Sherman is founder of Tech Success Communications, specializing in editorial content and consulting for the IT channel. His previous roles include chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and senior director of industry alliances with Autotask. Contact Brian at [email protected].
