Hard to believe temperatures are dropping, leaves are falling and everyone is starting to think about their plans for next year. But before we look ahead, it’s important to look back and count our organizational successes in 2015. It’s been a banner year and we have our members to thank for everything CompTIA has accomplished thus far.
10. In 2015 we nearly doubled in size, from 30,000 to more than 60,000 individuals that have engaged with CompTIA, complementing our 2,000 premier-member organizations.
9. We hosted a record-breaking ChannelCon, with 1,100+ onsite attendees and 2,000+ live-streamers participating via ChannelCon online.
8. We delivered content at 170+ industry and vendor/distributor partner events— growing our relationship and presence in the industry.
7. Our efforts to evolve the TechAmerica brand into CompTIA to be a single voice for the global IT industry reminded a number of audiences that we are now one organization, working for the same goals.
6. We launched Info Tech Law Advocates (ITLA) as our legal services program and helped over 500 members with more than 3,000 unique legal matters.
5. CompTIA’s philanthropic arm, Creating IT Futures Foundation (CITFF), tripled its outreach this year. Its flagship IT-Ready program surpassed the 1,000-student mark for training people for IT careers, boasting an 80 percent success rate placing students in those careers. In June, the foundation also launched the IT-Ready Network and received public praise from former President Bill Clinton at his Clinton Global Initiative conference. CITFF also published new research, white papers and videos on what teens think about tech careers, and on best practices for STEM and IT classes in high schools this year.
4. We fully integrated three public sector councils into our roster of CompTIA advisory councils and member communities: the Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG), the State and Local Government and Education Council (SLED) and the Space Enterprise Council (SEC).
3. We hosted our largest CompTIA DC Fly-In to date, with nearly 120 people converging in Washington, D.C. to tell their stories to members of congress and their staff. We also heard from key government officials on hot button issues and honored policy leaders who support the IT industry.
2. We developed CyberSecure™ in response to CompTIA research revealing that 79 percent of companies believe cybersecurity threats are on the rise. Launching in January 2016, this self-paced training course of security best practices is vital for employees to protect their businesses. Premier Members will receive 50 free licenses for internal employees.
1. Our Communities and Councils are growing by leaps and bounds. We’ve seen amazing international growth among our Australia/New Zealand (ANZ), Canadian and UK groups, supported by record meeting attendance and satisfaction scores. We successfully launched our Future Leader Community to address generational workforce issues. We’ve also realigned our councils, integrating the Telecom Advisory Council into the Partner Advisory Council (PAC) and Vendor Advisory Council (VAC), and are launching the Distributor Advisory Council (DAV). Additionally, we’re introducing an End User Commission that will serve as the voice of business decision makers. The commission will provide insight, thought leadership, direction and clarity on opportunities and challenges in the IT ecosystem.
All that and it's only October! We couldn't have achieved these accomplishments without the involvement and support of our outstanding membership. As usual, we have big plans for 2016, so stay tuned and stay involved.
Nancy Hammervik is senior VP, industry relations, at CompTIA -- a non-profit trade association advancing the global interests of IT professionals and companies including manufacturers, distributors, resellers, and educational institutions.
