CompTIA Announces New Emerging Technology Community Members

CompTIA, the trade association for the IT industry, has three new executive council members for its Emerging Technology Community.

Launched in 2018, the community focuses on trends such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and 5G wireless technology. The community analyzes these technology markets and helps companies parse how to use these technologies to drive revenue, reduce cost or bring efficiency to their operations.

“It is the role of CompTIA to digest these technologies and educate around their business use case,” said Maddy Martin, head of growth and education at Smith.ai and vice chair of the council. “We focus on the technologies that will move the needle and identify skill sets that will be needed [by the workforce] in the future.”

Three executives join the council: Jeff Benedetti, vice president for sale and marketing, Skout Cybersecurity; Matt Dukowski, senior manager, product management, SYNNEX Canada; and James Saldanha, client executive, Tech Data Canada.

Diversity of perspective and industry was key to the council’s additions.

“They all come to the table with a different perspective,” said Steven Ostrowski, CompTIA’s director of media relations. “That is the driving factor behind how we try and populate these different communities.”

Returning council members include Ted Cole, vice president of channels and strategic partners, GPS Insight; Paul Cronin, CEO, Apogee IT Services; Steven Estabrooks, general manager, Captec Americas; Frank Raimondi, chief consultant, Strategic Channel Concepts; John Rice, president, Think Channel; and Dave Sobel, host of the Business of Tech podcast.

The council produces whitepapers on these technologies, with case studies on company uses. And in just the past few months, the council has also used its research capabilities to craft an online assessment tool for companies that want to understand how to deploy them in their environment.

The Emerging Technology Innovation Assessment tool “helps companies gauge readiness to use some of the new technologies,” Ostrowski said. “You’ve got all this in perspective as to what it means for a business: ‘Can I make money with it? Can I make my business better?’ — not just taking about it at the professorial level. It comes down to the dollars and cents of operating your business.”