National Monitor
CONFIDENCE RISING IN IT MARKETPLACE, BUT OPTIMISM NOT YET TRANSLATING INTO TECHNOLOGY JOBS
Medium-size Firms
VERNON HILLS, Ill. – May 18, 2010 – Rising confidence among IT decision makers about the prospect of economic growth is still not translating into jobs for IT professionals. CDW’s IT Monitor, which has been tracking IT sentiment since the beginning of the recession, shows that caution still pervades for anticipated hiring even though increased spending on products and services is expected.
According to the CDW IT Monitor, less than one in four (22 percent) of all IT decision makers expect to hire additional IT staff in the next six months. This level has hovered between 21 and 22 percent since December 2009. Increased staffing expectations are even lower for small businesses at only six percent, a four percentage point drop since February 2010. Many leading economists believe that historically, small businesses are drivers of employment in recoveries.
On the bright side, despite a gloomy job outlook, optimism for anticipated investment is gaining momentum—with a positive rise in sentiment especially visible among medium-size businesses. Almost three out of five (59 percent) IT decision makers at medium-size businesses anticipate IT budget increases in the next six months, a five percentage point increase from February 2010. As a result of this increase, IT decision makers at medium-size companies are now on par with their large business counterparts for anticipated IT investment plans.
“While the IT job market isn’t improving, we are encouraged by the fact that it is no longer declining. These numbers seem generally consistent with what we’ve seen in the overall U.S. unemployment picture through the first several months of this year,” said Thomas E. Richards, president and chief operating officer, CDW. “We are hopeful that slowly but surely, IT departments will be looking to re-staff as 2010 progresses and IT decision makers feel even more confident about the extent of the recovery.”
After months of negative sentiment, IT decision makers at the state and local level are also cautiously optimistic about planned IT investment. For state government organizations, the IT Growth Monitor, which measures anticipated IT investment, reached a high reading of 66 after more than a year of weakened outlook. According to the data, 85 percent of IT decision makers at the state government level plan to replace or install new software in the next six months, up 18 percentage points since February 2010.
Similarly, 81 percent of state government IT decision makers expect to replace or install new hardware in the next six months, a 17 percentage point increase from February 2010. Planned hardware and software investment for IT decision makers at the local government level also increased by five percentage points from the last IT Monitor.
“At the state level specifically, we are still hearing CIOs say ‘the worst is yet to come,’” Richards said. “That being said, state government IT decision makers are investing in IT as a way to increase efficiency and save money elsewhere, which is why we believe we are seeing a slight increase in the outlook for IT spending. Compared with their federal counterparts, however, the outlook for state and local governments was much lower.”
The overall CDW IT Monitor index score held steady at 72 for the third consecutive reading as medium-size businesses and state and local government organizations begin to catch up with their large business and federal government counterparts.
Additional findings from the April CDW IT Monitor:
| Implement Discretionary IT Projects (Next Six Months) |
||
| Overall | 44% | 47% |
| Small Businesses (1-99 employees) |
15% | 19% |
| Medium-Size Businesses (100-999 employees) |
51% | 52% |
| Large Businesses (1,000+ employees) |
63% | 69% |
| Local Government | 40% | 36% |
| State Government | 39% | 46% |
| Federal Government | 60% | 47% |
About the CDW IT Monitor
The CDW IT Monitor was created by CDW and research 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 E-Rewards and Survey Sampling International. Data reported in this release are based on a survey of 1,050 IT decision makers conducted between March 19 and March 25, 2010.
At the center of the CDW IT Monitor is an index number, which registered an initial benchmark reading of 69 in December 2007. Results are calculated on a scale of 0-100, with 100 indicating the highest level of confidence. Future readings of the CDW IT Monitor will continue to yield comparisons to previous scores, allowing for an interpretation of the direction of sentiment in the IT marketplace. The next CDW IT Monitor will be released in June 2010.
Data are weighted to ensure that CDW 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.
About CDW
CDW is a leading provider of technology solutions for business, government and education. Ranked No. 41 on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies, CDW features dedicated account managers who help customers choose the right technology products and services to meet their needs. The company's technology specialists offer expertise in designing customized solutions, while its advanced technology engineers can assist customers with the implementation and long-term management of those solutions. Areas of focus include notebooks, desktops, printers, servers and storage, unified communications, security, wireless, power and cooling, networking, software licensing and mobility solutions.
CDW was founded in 1984 and employs approximately 6,150 coworkers. In the twelve months trailing March 31, 2010, the company generated sales of $7.6 billion. For more information, visit CDW.com.
