CDW IT Monitor: IT confidence continues to drop

22 Dec CDW IT Monitor: IT confidence continues to drop

Vernon Hills, Ill. – While the value placed on information technology remains strong despite greater need to manage costs, IT decision makers at large businesses report a significant decline in growth expectations, according to the latest edition of the CDW IT Monitor.
The decline in growth expectations among IT decision makers at large businesses is a key reason that IT marketplace confidence has dropped to its lowest level in 2008, according to the IT Monitor, a bimonthly indicator of the direction and momentum of the IT marketplace.
Large business IT decision makers registered the greatest decline in confidence among all corporate and government sectors in November, with a five-point drop to 74 from October.
The overall IT Monitor score fell two points to 70, the lowest score in 2008.
Despite this decline, the need for IT remains strong, with a majority of large and mid-size businesses expecting to purchase new hardware (84 percent and 77 percent, respectively) and software (87 percent and 78 percent, respectively) over the next six months.
CDW Vice President Mark Gambill said organizations continue to value IT as a strategic investment. “Companies that use IT as a mechanism to achieve greater productivity and efficiencies in this tough time will have a better chance of coming out of this economic downturn with greater momentum,” Gambill said in a statement released with the IT Monitor results.
Cost management
Decision makers are being forced to manage costs even more effectively. About one in five (19 percent) of corporate IT decision makers anticipate budget cuts in the first half of 2009, an increase of eight percentage points since October.
Eleven percent of corporate IT decision makers are expecting staffing decreases in the next six months, compared to five percent in October, the highest percentage this year.
The overall IT Growth Monitor, which measures expected future IT investment, fell four points from October to 64, its sharpest decline in 2008.
The government sector also anticipates declines in growth, as three in 10 government IT decision makers anticipate a budget decrease in the next six months. This includes 38 percent of state IT decision makers, an increase of eight percentage points from October, and 19 percent of federal IT decision makers, an increase of seven percentage points.
Highlights from the December CDW IT Monitor