Q & A
CompTIA: How is technology enhancing CompTIA membership?
GROSS: In the last five years, we rolled out our registered user program, which involved making more research and content available for non-members. We optimized it for search engines, and we’ve done a lot more outbound marketing. As a result, we've increased awareness of the association. The easy way for us to look at that is where we rank for search terms, which gives CompTIA a lot of credibility as a thought leader. That thought leadership is a result of our members. Ultimately, that helps bring more people to our association. We’ve also significantly increased our presence on all social media platforms—both organically and through targeted promotion. This has brought new people to CompTIA who are able to learn more about our organization and what we can offer them in terms of community, thought leadership, education, training— basically, we’re meeting people where they are. For members, we've also gone more digital and added components that allow collaboration, which has helped people get to know each other via video and interactive meetings. This is not necessarily new, but it's much easier and much more reliable. It allows people to network faster and brings them together in a natural way. That didn't exist 10 years ago. GROSS: For our certification candidates, we've been able to go from an environment where it was largely multiple choice to exams that include performance-based questions (i.e. simulations). Our exams are cutting edge and we continue to improve them. In short order, we're going to have remote proctoring available for online testing, which will allow people to take exams from their home. Online testing is going to expand the distribution of our exams into markets where people might not otherwise be able to access certifications. It can also potentially decrease test taker anxiety by allowing people to take exams in an environment they are familiar with. CompTIA: How is technology changing the certification business?
"Service is definitely the key role. It's about providing CompTIA with what it needs to be successful and making sure that everyone I work with understands that we're in the customer business and focused on creating positive experiences for members and certification candidates."
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CompTIAWorld | FALL 2019
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