CompTIA Updates Cloud+ Certification, Drops New AI Guide for Businesses

CompTIA has released an updated version of its Cloud+ certification exam. It also just unveiled an artificial intelligence (AI) guide for businesses.

Along with the global launch of the new Cloud+ exam, the IT industry association has released a suite of official CompTIA learning products associated with the new test. These training options include self-paced learning, live online training, custom training and labs.

CompTIA Cloud+ validates the skills IT professionals need to deploy and automate secure cloud environments that support the high availability of business systems and data.

Randall Edwards is CompTIA‘s certification product manager.

CompTIA’s Randall Edwards

“Operating in a multicloud environment poses new challenges and opportunities to deploy, optimize and protect mission-critical applications and data storage,” he said. “CompTIA Cloud+ validates the technical skills needed to secure these valuable assets.”

Cloud+ in High Demand

Employers in a range of industries either require or strongly recommend Cloud+ for their cloud engineers, security architects, security engineers, systems administrators, systems engineers, cloud specialists, cloud project managers and related positions. Those industries include aerospace, defense, health care and technology.

Major areas of emphasis on the new CompTIA Cloud+ exam include:

• More depth on the skills needed to secure the cloud regardless of the vendor solution.
• High availability for disaster recovery and security measures.
• Greater emphasis on automation and virtualization in place of hands-on cloud management.
• The addition of exam content on cloud architecture and design. That highlights the importance of the foundational technologies that comprise the cloud instead of focusing on vendor-specific tasks.

CompTIA developed the new exam with guidance and input from cloud experts. They represent a broad spectrum of industries, including communications, defense, engineering and technology. The U.S. Department of Defense has approved CompTIA Cloud+ for its Directive 8140/8570.01-M. That identifies certifications that information assurance and cybersecurity personnel and contractors must hold.

In addition, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited Cloud+ to show compliance with the ISO 17024 Standard.

New AI Guide

“Artificial Intelligence in Business: Top Considerations Before Implementing AI” was produced by the CompTIA AI advisory council.

Annette Taber is CompTIA’s senior vice president for industry outreach and relations.

CompTIA’s Annette Taber

“AI is already prevalent in many business processes and applications used daily,” she said. “And there are almost limitless other opportunities where it can be utilized. However, AI processes are complex.”

Businesses should ask the right questions and understand what’s involved before making any investments, Taber said.

The guide identifies more than two-dozen factors that should be considered and addressed by business decision makers and AI practitioners. Some of the factors are common to any big project. Those include securing executive buy-in, clearly defining business objectives and outcomes, and allocating financial resources to support the project.

But many other things have to come together to build and manage AI-infused applications. That’s according to Rama Akkiraju. She’s an IBM fellow of Watson AI Operations, IBM master inventor, IBM Academy of Technology member and chair of the CompTIA AI advisory council.

“Data scientists who build machine learning (ML) models need infrastructure, training data, model life-cycle management tools, and frameworks, libraries and visualizations,” she said. “IT administrators who manage the AI-infused applications in a company need tools to ensure that the models are accurate, robust, fair, transparent, explainable, continuously and consistently learning, and auditable.”

AI requires many new tools, platforms, training and even new job roles, Akkiraju said.

“All this can be very overwhelming for companies trying to deploy AI-infused applications,” she said. That’s why our council decided to put out an AI top-considerations document to help practitioners think about AI-infusion and its implications.”