OPINION TCA PC Keith Warburton is the president of
The Technology Channels Association. CONTACT
keith.warburton@tcauk.org Change for the better
Keith Warburton takes a look at the recent merger between the TCA and US-based trade body CompTIA, discussing how it will benefit members and the technology channel at large...
LAST MONTH saw the newly merged TCA and CompTIA have its first combined conference – what a superb event! A highlight was the keynote address by Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE, the world’s greatest living adventurer, whose speech engendered feelings of awe, admiration, incredulity and inspiration in pretty equal measures. When asked why he consistently puts himself into the most dangerous and arduous situations his reply was simply “It’s my job”. And we think the ICT environment is demanding! The teams from the two organisations made tremendous efforts to produce a joint event without actually saying it was such, because the announcement of the merger wasn’t made until the day before the conference. The TCA is now formally ‘a community of CompTIA’. Although CompTIA is very well-
known globally as the world’s IT trade association and has a particularly strong profile in the arena of certification and training for IT professionals, it has had to grow its reputation from scratch in the ICT supply channel over the past few years. That reputation is set to receive a considerable boost over the coming months. In the meantime, as the TCA’s members join the CompTIA community they will gain an expanded range of member benefits including,
not surprisingly, the opportunity to improve their professionalism through top-level skills and certifications. The Reseller Forum is something
that both organisations have been promoting for over a year now, and together we aim to provide further special interest groups over coming months. In late October we held the
“I am often told how much people value the friendships and business relationships they have built as a result of our meetings and activities; when we started out the term ‘networking’ was reserved for relationships
between computers.”
TCA’s AGM, which provided an opportunity for members to reminisce about the huge changes in the IT sector since we were formed nearly 18 years ago.
In that time we have positively
influenced EU and UK legislation, with a beneficial effect on the lives and livelihoods not just of our members but on many elements of the UK IT marketplace. It is no exaggeration to say
that our input into one EU directive has had a positive effect on every sale of a computer to consumers across the whole of Europe. We have also held suppliers to account over some of their actions and policies, to the benefit of the channel and its customers. As a trade body we have helped to
strengthen the channel in many ways, not just through our Code of Practice, but also through identifying rogue traders and providing help and advice to technology buyers. The TCA has performed an
invaluable function for nearly two decades and will now be able to expand those functions and achieve greater impact. As the ICT channels continue to evolve, and as ‘technology’ becomes an increasingly essential element of our daily lives, the combination of TCA
and CompTIA experience can only benefit the UK channel community. Gratifyingly, I am often told just
how much people value the friendships and business relationships they have built as a result of our meetings and activities; when we started out, the term ‘networking’ was reserved for relationships between computers. As we take the next leap in the
evolution of the TCA I would like to formally thank all of our directors who, over the years, have given their time, energy and support to the association and have got it to this stage. They have served their fellow members and the channel as unpaid volunteers, indeed their service has usually been at no small cost to themselves. Thank you, one and all: here’s looking forward to the next phase for the TCA.
MAC
100 PCR December
www.pcr–
online.biz
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