The ink is already drying on the acquisition of MSP Partners by CompTIA, so some of this information might not be new to some, but additional comment and clarification is warranted given the significance of this event.
The tone from those who weigh in on this is generally positive and I’d like to add my support. I commented on the acquisition which was posted in an online article published on the MSPMentor website by Joe Panettieri. You can read his article here.
Here is my comment as posted on MSPMentor in full:
“This acquisition makes complete sense to me, and highlights CompTIA’s new vision and approach to achieving their business goals. As you note, CompTIA and MSP University continue to work together to provide value to our respective members and the channel at large in the spirit of healthy coopetition. Coopetition only works if the coopetitive parties work together to identify areas of overlap as well as opportunities, and partner to discover the best ways to leverage these opportunities while mitigating potential conflicts. CompTIA, MSP Partners and MSP University are examples of organizations that actively seek out these types of relationships. Congratulations to CompTIA and MSP Partners.”
There are good things that will come from this acquisition.
First is a spirit of ‘coopetition’ as mentioned. Sure, there might be some overlap in focus between MSPAlliance and CompTIA, but for the greater part, they complement one another and benefit by a close, constructive relationship where their goals are aligned. With this acquisition CompTIA adds yet another compelling reason for non-members to join its organization, and provides an excellent Managed Services resource for its existing membership to benefit from.
Next, MSP Partners gains a valuable ally and partner in a much needed area: MSP marketing and assistance therein. The synergy of the merging should not be lost in the shuffle here. Both bring value, experience and core competencies with them which will only strengthen the MSP market segment.
Finally, the hard work has just begun. Now CompTIA can set about to channel efforts towards end user awareness and the benefits of MSP partnering. Members will be encouraged to deepen their roots in the market by providing not just valuable tools for existing client relations, but in creating new opportunities as well.
In a day and age that is filled with organization failures, distrust and rampant fear, we see this event as one that will help, not hurt our industry and those who depend upon the resources that help them become everything that they were created for in the first place.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll note that both CompTIA and MSP Partners are MSP University sponsors, and we work closely with them from a sponsorship, consulting and fulfillment relationship, as well as MSP Partners' founding organizations Cisco, Ingram Micro, Intel, Level Platforms and Microsoft.
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Erick Simpson
MSP University
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