CompTIA merges with Public Technology Institute to expand its public sector practice

On Tuesday, The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) announced it is merging with the Public Technology Institute (PTI) to enable increased collaboration between local government executives and elected officials and private industry. The agreement brings together PTI, the industry’s leading resource for the wise deployment of technology at the county and city level, with the significant public sector, association and certification resources of CompTI, the organizations said in a statement.

“We welcome PTI and its members to the CompTIA family,” Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA said in a statement. “Private/public partnerships are critical to tackling our country’s most important opportunities – from IT modernization to broadband to smart cities. We look forward to advancing the work of PTI and augmenting its programs to make a difference in the everyday lives of citizens.”

D.C.–based PTI has been supporting local government executives and elected officials through research, education, executive-level consulting services and national recognition programs since 1971. Both organizations share the same goals of providing quality programming, networking opportunities and timely research to city and county agencies and providers. This merger deal will bring much change to both organizations, but especially PTI who will essentially be adding to CompTIA’s portfolio, from offerings to staff.

The press release says PTI’s corporate vendor members will integrate into the CompTIA State & Local Government and Education Public Sector Council (SLED), where PTI will support the local government aspect. PTI’s jurisdiction and state agency members will form a new CompTIA Public Sector Council with its own set of association governance and bylaws who will participate in CompTIA events. But they will not engage in public policy committees, or help define the association’s legislative priorities.

“We are looking forward to continuing to provide our members with the world-class level of professional development, technology thought leadership, industry research and insight, consulting services, networking and other important resources they have come to expect and enjoy from PTI, while expanding our reach and our relevance with the support of CompTIA,” PTI Executive Director Alan Shark, who will remain as head of PTI at CompTIA, said in a statement.

PTI’s current board of directors will now act as an executive council who will advise CompTIA. PTI will uphold its already established strategic partnerships and deliver programming to its members in 2019 that includes:

• The start of the 2019-2020 Certified Government CIO program.
• An expanded Certified Government Digital Services Professional certification program.
• PTI’s Tech Matters weekly email highlighting tech news and government services.
• The annual CIO and Leadership Summit and “hot topic” events and webinars.
• Research including survey analysis, articles, identifying leading practices.

CompTIA has a Professional Services Automation (PSA) tool that helps companies delivering IT services run and measure their business’s efficiency and probability. The merger brings new members to CompTIA’s PSA Program including: ESRI, Allied Telesis, Kronos, Nutanix, Motorola, Panasonic, Qualtrics, Ricoh, RSM, Symantec, Tyler Technologies, Information Builders and Plante Moran.