CDW: Cost management emerges as top 2009 priority for IT decision makers

12 Nov CDW: Cost management emerges as top 2009 priority for IT decision makers

Vernon Hills, Ill. – Economic troubles have a way of making us all frugal, and cost management has emerged as the top priority for information technology decision makers, according to the annual year-in-review survey of business and government organizations by CDW Corp.
The survey, taken amid an uncertain economic environment that has dampened business confidence, found that 41 percent of IT decision makers across government and corporate sectors cite cost management as their biggest priority when looking ahead to 2009. 
Business priorities that involve spending also took a hit, according to the survey, as 35 percent of IT decision makers report that growing their market share is a top priority for 2009. That’s down six percentage points from 2008.
Also down is the percentage of IT decision makers that cite employee recruitment and retention as a top priority. Only 20 percent now list recruitment and retention as a top priority, down five percentage points from 2008.
The survey did include one pleasant surprise: 32 percent of IT decision makers cite investment in new products and technologies as the top priority for 2009, an increase of five percentage points from 2008.
“Given recent economic challenges, cost management surpassed everything – even growing market share – as the biggest priority for the coming year,” said CDW Vice President Mark Gambill, the company’s executive responsible for market insights, in a statement released with the findings.
“Many times, organizational objectives are set well in advance,” Gambill added, “and after navigating through the volatile market conditions that have become the defining characteristic of 2008, IT decision makers are preparing for 2009 by planning for the one element they can control – cost.”
Maddening market
The CDW year-in-review survey was created by CDW Corporation, and research and analysis is conducted by independent polling firm Richard Day Research of Evanston, Ill. Findings are based on a survey of 1,058 IT decision makers conducted between September 15 and September 22, 2008.
Survey respondents told CDW that market conditions presented the greatest challenge to IT decision makers this past year. Fifty-seven percent of IT decision makers in the corporate environment said the economy was the biggest obstacle to growth, a 16 percentage point increase. 
Twenty-three percent said the biggest obstacle was cash flow or access to financing, and 19 percent cited internal operational costs. 
Other key findings from CDW’s year-in-review survey:

CDW Corp., a provider of technology solutions for business, government, and education, ranks 34th on Forbes’ list of America’s Largest Private Companies. The company also publishes the bimonthly CDW IT Monitor, a survey of the American IT marketplace.