About the CDW IT Monitor
The CDW IT Monitor is a bimonthly indicator of the direction, momentum, and mindset of the U.S. IT marketplace. Based on a national online survey of 1,000 IT decision makers from business and government sectors, the Monitor measures outlook for IT related spending, investment, adoption, and satisfaction. It also tracks decision makers’ assessment of IT effectiveness in meeting business objectives.

The Monitor is composed of two subindicies, the IT Value Monitor, which measures the value of IT in achieving organizational objectives and satisfying decision makers’ expectations, and the IT Growth Monitor, which measures future IT expectations within organizations. By revealing the key issues from a growth and value perspective that affect small, medium, and large businesses as well as federal, state, and local governments, the Monitor will provide a comprehensive report on the IT industry.

The survey contains eight core questions covering IT topics that include effectiveness in achieving corporate mission, contribution to corporate financial performance, disruptions to customer needs, satisfaction with purchases, expected changes in budget and staffing, and expectations for installing new hardware and software.

Survey Sample
Sampling is designed to reflect a broad spectrum of IT decision makers, among all sizes of companies, multiple industries, and across three levels of government. Each measurement includes at least 750 corporate decision makers (250 at companies with 1 to 99 employees, 250 at companies with 100 to 999 employees, and 250 at companies with 1,000 or more employees) and at least 250 government decision makers (with 100 at the federal level and 100 at the state levels).

Data are weighted to ensure that IT Monitor calculations closely represent the overall population of corporate and government employers in terms of size, based on the number of employees. Corporate data are weighted according to U.S. Economic Census data, and government data are weighted according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual survey of government employment. The margin of sampling error for a survey based on this many interviews is approximately +/-4 percentage points for the business sector, and +/-6 percentage points for government.

Survey Methodology
Data is collected through an online survey of final decision makers or managers with at least moderate influence in acquiring, recommending, and/or purchasing IT hardware, software, and services. All research design, implementation, and analysis is conducted by independent polling firm Richard Day Research of Evanston, Ill. Decision makers are invited from two large national panels of IT decision makers built and maintained by Survey Sampling and E-Rewards.

How the Monitor Is Calculated
To calculate the IT Monitor, the percentage of unfavorable replies is subtracted from the percentage of favorable replies for each question. These numbers are averaged and then rescaled from 0 to 100. The subindicies are calculated similarly, with each based on four questions instead of all eight. The overall calculation is equivalent to the average of the two subindicies.

What the Number Means
A score of 100 means that all IT decision makers view the contributions and expected growth of IT favorably, while a score of 0 means that all view the contributions and expected growth of IT negatively.