Turn On the Power

When you think of powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill, how come the IT industry doesn't come immediately to mind? No industry in the U.S., or the world for that matter, plays such a diverse and integrated role in the global economy. Nor has any other industry done more to advance society to this point while continuing to raise the bar for a better future. Is it ignorance on the part of legislators? Is the IT industry just taken for granted because it is so pervasive? Has it been by design? Has the IT industry chosen to fly below the radar and just do what IT does?

The answer is probably not as simple as any of those questions. The IT industry is fiercely competitive -- as much as any industry in the global economy. Getting divergent actors to speak with one voice has been a challenge vexing trade associations for decades. The IT industry, and the tech industry more broadly, is no different. There's an alphabet soup of entities out there vying to be seen as THE voice of tech. CompTIA is different. We don't see ourselves as the voice of technology. We are the voice of the IT community.

Vendor, VAR, MSP, distributor, ISV, hardware, software and services are all part of IT. There are tens of thousands of companies employing millions of workers in the U.S. alone. The aggregate household purchasing power of IT professionals is vast and moves the needle in the economy everyday. It is my belief that our political power and influence should be just as impactful. What's it going to take to make that happen? Five things. To maximize our potential we must be:

1. Persistent - We must be more consistently in the fray and in the face of legislators.


2. Resourceful - Powerful groups have meaningful PACs with stead streams of donors.


3. Innovative - We have to get ahead of legislators and layout the right course of action.


4. Cooperative - Working successfully and cooperatively with whomever is in power is key.


5. Focused - Pick our priorities and go after them.

All of the above assumes we have your active and vocal support. We'll soon be launching TechVoice.org as the home for our efforts, our messages and a place where we can engage the power of our state technology association partners and you! So get engaged, stay engaged and together the IT community can realize its potential as an influential and impactful political force.