Executives express modest confidence about economy, industry and own company
The CompTIA IT Industry Business Confidence Index for the fourth quarter of 2014 rebounded to reach its high point for the year, with all three Index components recording modest gains.
The Q4 Index stands at 62.1 on a 100-point scale, reversing the downward momentum of Q3, when the index slipped to 60.1. The Index is based on IT industry executives' opinions of the U.S. economy, the industry and a self-assessment of their own company and is produced by CompTIA, the IT industry association.
The Index's forward looking component projects a gain of 3.0 points, suggesting industry executives feel generally positive about business prospects over the next six months. The survey was conducted just prior to this month's mid-term elections, so it does not account for sentiment about potential impacts of the election outcome.
"The gains in this quarter's IT Industry Business Confidence Index can likely be attributed to several factors," said Tim Herbert, vice president, research and market intelligence, CompTIA. "Economic growth has been steady, though unremarkable; IT employment remains robust; and the wave of innovation that started several years ago continues to generate strong demand from buyers."
"The survey results parallel the sentiment among many IT companies that there are opportunities on many fronts," said MJ Shoer, chairman of the CompTIA Board of Directors and president and virtual chief technology officer of Jenaly Technology Group, Inc., Portsmouth, N.H. "Companies with the right mix of technical and business expertise are benefiting from strong customer demand for cloud solutions, managed IT services and security support, to name a few."
Despite the generally positive trending in the Index over the past 12 months, IT industry executives express some concerns over factors that negatively affect growth. Forty-five percent report concern over price sensitive customers hesitant to spend; while 38 percent worry about downward pressure on margins – an eight percentage point jump from Q3.
"Downward trending prices and commoditization are ever-present realities of doing business in the technology sector," Herbert noted. "This is great for customers, but can present challenges for IT companies, especially those not equipped to wrap services and solutions around their offerings."