Business confidence for the IT industry is staying robust: Three in four companies recently surveyed by CompTIA said they are on target or ahead of their 2014 revenue goals at the midpoint of the year.
By comparison, at the halfway point of 2013, 68 percent of companies were on target or ahead of revenue goals for the year; while 32 percent lagged behind their goals.
Broken down by company size, 93 percent of medium IT firms and 80 percent of large companies are at or above their revenue targets for 2014. Among small companies, 74 percent said they are on target or ahead of goals. Among micro firms, 58 percent fell into that category.
Industry executives did however express concern over a number of factors that could derail progress. Topping their list is concern over price sensitive customers who may be reluctant to spend. This was cited by 44 percent of executives surveyed.
“Closely related is concern over downward pressure on margins,” said Tim Herbert, vice president research and market intelligence at CompTIA. “With an ever-expanding array of technology solutions available at a range of price points, cost-conscious customers have more options than ever to optimize their IT spending”
Additionally, the results showed a slight uptick in concern over labor costs for IT workers, increasing four percentage points over the previous quarter’s rate of 24 percent.
Overall, the CompTIA IT Industry Business Confidence Index declined slightly in Q3, but still remains firmly in positive territory for the year.
The Q3 Index stands at 60.1 on a 100-point scale, down from 61.3 in Q2. The forward looking component of the Index projects a gain of 2 points over the next six months, suggesting a modest degree of optimism for the balance of 2014.
