CompTIA Blog

When the small business lending legislation (HR 5297) was enacted into law last September, it was heralded as a step to stimulate loans to small businesses by community banks.  Under this legislation, $30 billion has been directed to a “Small Business Lending Fund” administered by the Department of Treasury.  The purpose of this fund is to provide capital investments in small banks (community banks with assets of $10 billion or less) coupled with incentives for those banks to increase small busi ...

Despite our transition to a credit and electronic payment-based economy, when determining the strength of your business, cash is still king. The effective management of money, particularly the amount of currency you have on hand at critical points in time, is essential to all organizations and their growth plans. Without the proper amount of cash available, it can get dicey when trying to meet your payroll and current expense obligations in a busy month when you have a significant increase in ma ...

Earlier this week, health insurer WellPoint, Inc. agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a lawsuit in which the company was accused of failure to properly notify officials that a security breach occurred. According to the Indiana Attorney General’s office (which filed the suit), social security numbers, financial information and health records for as many as 32,051 people were potentially accessible through an unsecured website over a five month period starting in late 2009. As specified in India ...

In an effort to shine a light on a critical federal education initiative repeatedly in the crosshairs of deficit hawks in recent years, CompTIA looked toward a leading local lawmaker this month. When Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) paid a visit to Roger C. Sullivan High School’s Medical Academy in Chicago on June 1, he was shown the inner workings of just one example of just one school system’s use of Career and Technical Education programs that teeter on the financial precipice due to federal fundin ...

Earlier this week, health insurer WellPoint, Inc. agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a lawsuit in which the company was accused of failure to properly notify officials that a security breach occurred. According to the Indiana Attorney General's office (which filed the suit), social security numbers, financial information and health records for as many as 32,051 people were potentially accessible through an unsecured website over a five month period starting in late 2009. As specified in Indiana's ...

The House Judiciary Committee favorably reported out H.R. 1439, the "Business Activity Tax Simplification Act of 2011," by a voice vote yesterday. Now, this legislation can be considered by the full House, although the timetable is uncertain.This legislation sets up a physical presence nexus standard, which means that in order for a state to tax a business activity, that business must have a tangible connection to the state, such as an office or a sales force. Without this legislation, businesse ...

A look at the week of July 4 in advocacy for the IT channel: This week the nation's largest organization of physician executives announced that it is running a training course designed to better help hospital executives adapt to the rapid changes in healthcare IT. A new research study released this week indicates that the recent spike in cybersecurity breaches is a product of increased disclosure rather than an actual increase in such incidents. The president of the Internet Security Alliance to ...

Many organizations invest time and money developing their leaders’ skills, only to realize limited, if any, measurable gains. This can be frustrating for all involved. With so much at stake and so many competing priorities for dollars, it’s time to get smart about leadership development. Invest, Invest, Invest! Investing in leadership skills development in the absence of developing the self-awareness of leaders or focusing solely on competencies while ignoring the important underlying leadersh ...

The Fourth of July holiday seemed perfect timing for a recent gift by our member communities.The IT Business Growth Professionals Community, one of 10 communities within the CompTIA membership, made a $5,000 gift to Veterans Inc. which helps veterans improve their lives in the areas of housing, employment and health.“This is an opportunity to say thank you to those who have served,” said Ken Thoreson, chair of the ITBGP Community and president of Acumen Management Group in Tennessee. “We were ex ...

As we head into a long weekend and celebrate the 235th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it’s a great time to reflect on what may be a pivotal point in the “cloud revolution”. The news coming out of Redmond this week wasn’t quite what many channel experts predicted, and has many VARs reevaluating the status of their vendor relationships—or at least the portfolio they wish to represent. Of course I’m referring to the much discussed announcement by Microsoft CEO Steve ...

Catch our latest interview with IT channel CEOs to help our members learn from each other. CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux talks with Shari Marion-Hoff, founder and CEO of Edgewalk Business Experience.Edgewalk’s mission is to facilitate partnerships between colleges/universities and corporations in order to accelerate the development of tomorrow’s business professionals. It provides real-world, hands-on business experience for college and university students by partnering with corporat ...

IT spending by federal, state and local governments is expected to top $130 billion in 2011. That’s a significant pile of cash and has a number of VARs and MSPs wondering how they can get a piece of it. Other providers have watched from the sidelines, unsure if the government sector revenue is worth the perceived aggravation of red tape and other obstacles. Regardless of which situation describes your business, the opportunities presented by municipalities, as well as state and federal entities, ...

A look at the week of June 27 in public advocacy for the IT channel: This week, small medical practices adopting health IT systems are reporting that the lack of a standard code and software makes communicating between systems a challenge.  The Department of Homeland Security plans to release guidelines for organizations to avoid the most common types of cyberattacks.  Timothy F. Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary, told members of the House Small Business Committee that the Treasury wil ...

This past week I attended an event hosted by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE for short) at the Philadelphia Convention Center. I wasn't quite sure what to expect never having attended before. Walking away I was very impressed by the energy, diversity and professionalism of the show. I also left thinking this could have been an education focused hall of a larger IT event. Think Comdex meets classroom.Technology use in education continues to climb the ladder. From colla ...

Two of the hottest areas in tech – cybersecurity and healthcare IT – are focal points at our two upcoming events:  Breakaway and Tech Summit, both co-located in Washington, D.C. in August. Find Best Practices & New Opportunities in IT Security Advancements in cloud computing, wireless capacities and smart technologies all create greater business potential while raising many security questions. At Breakaway, explore the challenges and opportunities in the IT security field. ...