Hot on the heels of revamping its membership access model a few weeks ago, ICT industry association CompTIA has expanded its lobbying and advocacy capabilities with the acquisition of TechAmerica. The new organization will operate under the CompTIA brand, however the lobbying arm will retain the TechAmerica name, at least for the foreseeable future.
Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO, CompTIA, said the merger is a complimentary one for both organizations, which have very little overlap between them, and creates an organization that will represent the entire ICT industry – from the SMBs that are CompTIA’s traditional strength to the public sector and large private organizations where Tech America has strength.
Shawn Osborne, president and CEO of TechAmerica, echoed the sentiment in a letter posted on his organization’s website this morning. “This is not the merging of two identical organizations. TechAmerica and CompTIA have complementary interests and goals within the ICT industry. Whereas TechAmerica has been a leading voice of large businesses and the tech public sector, CompTIA has built a strong reputation for workforce training and certification, business education and best practices, and advocacy for small and medium technology companies in the IT sector. Joining forces consolidates disparate segments of the ICT sector under one roof to enhance voice, reach and influence. A single, unified organization for commercial and public sector interests allows us to advance business interests and opportunities as a whole.”
“Over the last couple of years our board has been looking for ways to grow the value of CompTIA,” said Thibodeaux. Part of that was revamping the access model which has opened up access to CompTIA’s insight and research for the entire industry through a free membership. CompTIA has also broadened its educational offerings.
“Another part was broadening our reach,” he said, adding they the board knew CompTIA could be doing more for a broader audience and was actively looking for ways to accomplish that without compromising the services delivered to existing members.
The big win for CompTIA really comes with the deepening of is advocacy capabilities. Of the 24 former TechAmerica staffers coming over to CompTIA 14 are lobbyists, quadrupling CompTIA’s existing strength and extending its reach on the state and international levels and especially in Federal procurement.
“It’s about relevancy, it’s about influence,” said Thibodeaux. “And by doing that, hopefully it’s about making the other things we are doing even more powerful.”
CompTIA unveils CertMaster
Speaking of CompTIA’s role in education, the company also unveiled CertMaster a new online learning solution designed to help students and professionals learn and retain technical information more effectively, better preparing them for IT certification exams and, eventually, helping them deliver higher quality services to customers. CompTIA CertMaster uses the latest research in brain science, neurobiology, cognitive psychology and game studies, combining key principles from each field to help users learn necessary information quickly and retain it long-term.
