Day Two Packed with Information at CompTIA IT Services and Support Meeting

Day two of the CompTIA IT Services and Support Executive Forum meeting is in full swing today, as the attendees concluded a networking breakfast and moved quickly into an update on public policies. The association represents the interests of IT services companies and communicates the top issues affecting the industry on a regular basis. With policy offices in Washington and Brussels, they have a global, national, and regional footprint, keeping community members informed of issues that could affect their business. This includes opportunities as well, such as information on how the federal stimulus plans could benefit service providers. With President Obama’s push for Electronic Medical Records (EMR), many organizations will benefit if they understand the stipulations and opportunity. For more information, be sure to check out CompTIA’s Public Policy page.

Dan Liutikas, SVP of Industry Relations at CompTIA discussed the association’s new community program, including the IT Services and Support Executive Forum. CompTIA thoroughly reviewed the technology segments and vertical markets that were of greatest value to members and put in place a new format, bylines, and governance for these groups.

The new CompTIA Communities are segmented between Executive Forums and Special Interest Groups (SIGs), with similar goals but different governance and maturity levels. Basically, the Executive Forums are more tenured groups, while the SIGs are emerging communities.  For example, the IT Services and Support Executive Forum was formerly known as the Services Section, and it’s been developing standards, initiatives, and certifications for many years.

The audience was provided an overview of CompTIA’s Security Trustmark Program, which gives recognition to service providers that follow best practices and standards regarding IT Security. The revised IT Security Special Interest Group is charged with the promotion and future revisions to the program, but the community may benefit from the Security Trustmark.

Before the break, attendees received details of the upcoming Video on Demand (VOD) series. Liutikas projects that many of these will launch in March, with topics closely aligned to the CompTIA Communities. The VOD series is intended to provide members with education on the key areas of interest in the IT ecosystem.

In addition to the video series, members can expect additional resources on Member Resources Center (MRC site), including:

• Law and HR office-provides tools and interactive contract builders to create customized business templates
• Community Articles- Starting next week Community Managers will begin posting articles on communities’ sites updates within their particular community