Confidence Appears to be Stabilizing Among IT Decision Makers

Confidence among IT professionals appears to be stabilizing, and in some areas is showing a slight uptick, according to the latest version of the CDW IT Monitor, a bimonthly indicator of the direction and momentum of the IT marketplace.

The overall CDW IT Monitor index went up one point from the April reading to stand at 73. This reading is equal to the February 2008 score. The increase is supported by readings for both the IT Growth Monitor, currently up one point from April at 69, and the IT Value Monitor, currently up one point from April at 77.

The CDW IT Monitor is based on an online survey of at least 1000 IT decision makers from businesses of all sizes and all sectors of government. It is composed of two sub-indices, 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. Data breakdowns for all corporate and government segments are available at www.cdwitmonitor.com.

“As IT decision makers assess the economic environment they are readjusting their expectations leading in to the second half of the year,” said CDW Vice President Mark Gambill, the company’s executive responsible for market insights. “While a few are expecting increases in technology related spending, others are lengthening project cycle times to optimally manage cost instead of cutting projects altogether.”

Fifty-one percent of businesses predict IT budget increases over the next six months, up slightly from 49 percent in the previous IT Monitor. The leading driver of this change is in the medium-sized business sector, where the number of companies expecting increased budgets jumped 10 percentage points from April to 64 percent.

However, confidence has not started to improve with the same intensity across all sectors. Small businesses remain the least confident with only 27 percent anticipating a budget increase in the next six months. In terms of staffing, only nine percent of small businesses expect to bring on additional IT staff during that time, compared to 25 percent of medium-sized businesses and 41 percent of large businesses.

“Small businesses in particular are still waiting to hire new staff or undertake even routine system implementations that would normally occur over cycles,” added Gambill. “It’s not surprising that small businesses, with relatively fewer resources, are lagging their larger brethren in confidence. Whether or not confidence returns to the small business sector will say a lot about whether the slight uptick in overall confidence we see in this IT Monitor reading is here to stay.”

CDW Monitor Highlights (June 2008)

• The number of decision makers who feel that IT investment contributes to the organization’s bottom line increased four percentage points to 72 percent.
• The IT Growth Monitor score in the government sector increased two points to 69 from April. This increase was driven by the state government sector score, which rose six points to 72.

About the CDW IT Monitor

The CDW IT Monitor was created by CDW Corporation, 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 is based on a survey of 1,041 IT decision makers conducted between May 27 and June 3, 2008.

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 August 2008.

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. 39 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 as of December 31, 2007 employed approximately 6,300 coworkers. In 2007, the company generated sales of $8.1 billion. For more information, visit CDW.com.

Contacts:

Ogilvy Public Relations
Gina Gesmond
(312) 397-6028
gina.gesmond@ogilvypr.com
or
CDW Corporation
Gary Ross
(847) 371-5048
garyross@cdw.com