CompTIA Blog

The IT solution provider companies best positioned for future success are the ones that take a hybrid approach to customers, combining traditional product sales and support with new offerings in managed services, cloud computing and customized application development.That’s the collective view of four IT industry analysts who spoke Wednesday at CompTIA Breakaway 2011.“We believe the hybrid model will be here for the next 10 to 15 years, a combination of on-premise equipment with elements of clou ...

A common them cut across today’s panel discussion “Business Operations Challenges: What’s Keeping Solutions Providers Up at Night?” at Breakaway 2011: Expectation Management.  Panelist responses to questions from moderator Regina Ciardiello, managing editor, SMB Nation, were laced with the consistent message “manage expectations before expectations manage you.”Vetting vendors for partnerships?  Manage expectations, said panelist Ilene Rosoff, CEO and president, The Launch Pad.  “We approach vend ...

Understanding a medical practice’s workflow is critical to selling healthcare IT solutions. That takes a combination of research, good listening skills and practice, Patrick Wilson of Vital Signs Technology told a group of Breakaway attendees in a Wednesday session. “You’re not going to have a single product that works for all entities,” he said. “It’s in the subtle details. You have to listen and figure out what is unique to their practice.” By unde ...

IT solution providers would be wise to leave discussions about bits, bytes, speeds and feeds at the front door and instead engage customers in conversations on how to solve business challenges, executive from four top IT vendors advised Breakaway 2011 attendees.“The money is in understanding the domain the end-user is living in,” said Mike deVente, vice president, North America channels, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions. “What are they trying to accomplish? Bring the solution to the proble ...

Small and medium-sized businesses pay attention. State and local governments are expected to spend $61.5 billion on IT by 2015. Federal regulation FAR19.201 mandates that SMBs get government contracts. Last year $96 billion was available in governmental contracts. However, only one percent of SMBs got the contracts and got them repeatedly, explained Dick Idtensohn, senior partner of BDW-L LLC, to an audience of IT solution providers at Breakaway. Those SMBs “understand and work the system”. ...

What will a solution provider business model look like in the next three to five years? That’s the question a panel of industry professionals addressed during an interactive discussion on Day Two of Breakaway. Moderated by Ryan Morris, principal consultant at Morris Management Consultants, the group took on a number of topics relating to the increasing solution needs of clients, the advancements in technology and the ever-increasing demands on IT business owners.Session panelists included: Rob B ...

The old line about “what you do when you assume” is alive and well in the business world, at least in the view of noted business consultant and best-selling author Peter Sheahan.During yesterday’s opening keynote speech at Breakaway 2011, Sheahan said the biggest obstacles in the selling process are often wrong assumptions made by sellers.“It’s often not the buyer getting in the way of the seller exploiting the opportunity, but the seller not fully understanding the opportunity,” said Sheahan, f ...

In yesterday’s Distributor Power Panel moderated by Gennifer Biggs, editor, Business Solutions, at Breakaway, a panel of top distributors advised solution providers to pick up the phone and get to know their distributor representatives one-on-one.“Be a little transparent.  Be open and frank and help us understand your business,” said Greg Dixon, CTO of ScanSource.  “Most of our customers are small with as few as five employees.  You should be a on a first-name basis with your rep.”Some smaller s ...

Technology vendors are announcing new products, services and partnerships at CompTIA Breakaway this week. A few of the noteworthy items:eGestalt Technologies announced version 11 of its award-winning security and compliance management solution that provides PCI and HIPAA/HITECH-based security and risk assessment, auditing and remediation. The tool offers peace of mind to channel partners servicing SMBs to large enterprises, including medical providers and their business associates, retailers and ...

CompTIA President CEO Todd Thibodeaux kicked off Breakaway 2011 yesterday morning saying, “We’ve lined up our most robust slate of content and training for all of you, so that you can truly accelerate your business.” He wasn’t exaggerating, and the workshops starting shortly after morning keynotes concluded backed him up.I headed for the “Cloud Business Development Workshop” early.  Good thing. The session was SRO – Standing Room Only.So many VARs wanted to attend the workshop that the afternoon ...

One of the most important things channel vendors can do to increase partner satisfaction is to improve their communication skills. That may be as simple as listening to the issues they face in their daily business operations, everything from employee problems to a critical system alert at one of their major clients’ sites. The bottom line is they have a lot on their minds and vendor representatives need to understand the way their partners work, as well as how they work.A majority of solution pr ...

Recovering from the whirlwind that was Breakaway today? Get ready for another jam-packed day on Wednesday. Check out our top 5 things you don't want to miss tomorrow: Women in IT Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. in the Gunston Room (just down the hall from the Press Room on the Terrace Level): Dr. Madeline Lewis, president and CEO, The Deline Institute for Professional Development, will address the CompTIA Women in Technology, an open consortium of professional IT women. Channel Chiefs Power Panel at 9: ...

Positive trends seem to be a rarity in the business community this year, but according to the latest CompTIA research, the growth in cloud services is bucking the norm. Not only are solution providers overwhelmingly adopting virtualization in their sales portfolios, they are “eating their own dog food” and using it internally to help their own businesses.As discussed at Breakaway at a press briefing, CompTIA research shows that in 2011 more than 41% of VARs/MSPs both sell and use cloud solutions ...

Four technology-forward charities, benefiting schools, hospitals, libraries, unemployment and disaster relief, received philanthropic gifts donated by the member communities of CompTIA. Each of CompTIA’s member communities are donating $5,000 each in 2011 to IT-related charities, and some are announcing their gift selections at Breakaway this week in Washington, D.C. The IT Services & Support Community in Europe gave $5,000 to Close the Gap, an international not-for-profit organizatio ...

In Washington, D.C. for Breakaway and need to set your agenda?  Check out our list of the top five events you shouldn’t miss on Tuesday: Opening Keynote at 9:00 a.m. in the International Ballroom Center: Hear about the state of the industry from CompTIA and learn how to “Make it Happen” from noted author Peter Sheahan. Lunch Choices at Noon in the International Ballroom Center: Choose from three different networking and learning opportunities during lunch.  Meet with CompTIA’s top ...