CONTACTS:
Anshula Ahluwalia
Ogilvy Public Relations
(312) 397-6074
anshula.ahluwalia@ogilvypr.com
Gary Ross
CDW Corporation
(847) 371-5048
garyross@cdw.com
New CDW IT Monitor Tracks Mindset of Decision Makers in Commerce and Government
VERNON HILLS, Ill. – December 17, 2007 – The current uncertainty in the U.S. economy is lowering expectations among corporate IT decision makers when they look ahead to 2008.
“A majority of corporate information technology decision makers believe that the right equipment, software and services exist in the marketplace today to help them advance their organizations. But CDW’s analysis of industry sentiment suggests that these IT users feel that their ability to tap into that potential is hamstrung by worries about the direction of the US economy,” comments CDW Vice President Mark Gambill, the executive responsible for market insights.
More than three quarters of corporate respondents who contributed to the inaugural CDW IT Monitor applauded the business value of IT, saying that IT is effective in achieving overall business goals.
However, when asked about expectations for IT in the coming months, fewer respondents (38 percent) currently anticipate increases in their overall IT budgets.
The new CDW IT Monitor is a bi-monthly indicator of the direction, momentum and mindset of the IT marketplace in the United States, based on an online survey of at least 1000 IT decision-makers from businesses of all sizes and all sectors of government. At the center of the CDW IT Monitor is an index number, whose initial benchmark reading is 69. Results are calculated on a scale of 0-100, with 100 indicating a high level of confidence. Future readings of the CDW IT Monitor will yield comparisons to previous scores, allowing for an interpretation of the direction of sentiment in the IT industry.
The IT Monitor overall score is composed of two sub-indices – the IT Growth Monitor, which measures future IT expectations within organizations covering areas such as future spending and hiring plans; and the IT Value Monitor which measures the value of IT in achieving organizational objectives.
In this inaugural release, IT Monitor polling highlighted a disparity between the Growth Monitor score of 63 and the higher Value Monitor score of 74. This indicates IT users’ confidence in their organizations’ ability to grow their IT infrastructure is out of balance with the perceived value the technology brings to the business.
A clue to the cause of the weakening expectations for 2008 within the IT community emerged in responses from corporate employers when asked about the top obstacles to growth, the number one answer was the “weak economic environment” (cited by 41 percent of respondents).
“Our next CDW IT Monitor is due in February 2008, and I would hope to see the gap between the IT Monitor sub-indices narrow as people feel easier about planning new investment in technology innovations as the economy moves beyond this rough patch,” Gambill added.
CDW Monitor Highlights (December 2007)
| Overall |
IT Monitor Index Readings | |
CDW IT MONITOR | 69 |
IT VALUE MONITOR | 74 |
IT GROWTH MONITOR | 63 |
| Overall |
Key Findings from IT Value & IT Growth Sub-Indices | |
Is IT effective in achieving company mission and goals (% saying yes) | 76% |
Does IT investment improve financial performance or organizational efficiency (% saying yes) | 66% |
Will IT budgets increase over next six months (% saying yes) | 38% |
Will IT staffing increase over the next six months (% saying yes) | 16% |
· Government organizations, who are less exposed to the ups and downs of the economic environment, did not demonstrate the same gap as corporations in current value and future expectations.
· Just over half (52 percent) of small businesses report that IT improves their financial performance/efficiency, compared to 69 percent of mid-sized businesses, 71 percent of large businesses and 78 percent of government organizations.
· Only 26 percent of small businesses expect to increase their IT budgets in the next six months versus 46 percent of mid-sized and 43 percent of large businesses.
· Only 4 percent of small businesses expect to add staff in the coming months compared to 20 percent of mid-sized businesses and 23 percent of large businesses.
· Eighty-two percent of government organizations find that IT is effective in achieving organizational goals and 44 percent expect to increase their IT budgets in the next six months.
Additional CDW IT Monitor details are available to media upon request.
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 Harris Interactive and E-Rewards. Data reported in this release is based on a survey of 1,072 IT decision makers conducted between October 31 and November 16, 2007.
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®, ranked No. 342 on the FORTUNE 500, is a leading provider of technology solutions for business, government and education. CDW is a principal source of technology products and services including top name brands such as Acer, Adobe, APC, Apple, Cisco, EMC, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, Panasonic, Quantum, Samsung, Sony, Symantec, ViewSonic and Xerox.
CDW was founded in 1984 and as of September 30, 2007, employed approximately 6,100 coworkers. In 2006, the company generated sales of $6.8 billion. For more information, visit CDW.com.
