Survey: Low confidence in government IT area

As the effects of the economic crisis already apparent at the local and state levels make their way into the federal sector, confidence among government information technology decision-makers is falling across the board, according to a recent survey. For the first time since it began polling various IT sectors at the end of 2007, the CDW IT Monitor showed a decline in confidence in all three government sectors. “This decline is likely a result of slowing tax revenues and tightening budgets, which is fueled by both the current economic climate and recent market events,” said Mark Gambill, vice president of CDW Corp. Only 14 percent of federal executives expected their IT budgets to increase substantially over the next six months, with just seven percent of both local and state executives expecting the same. The majority of those surveyed felt their budgets would stay the same or decrease slightly. However, more than half of those across the government sectors anticipate at least some increase in hardware purchases. More than a third of federal executives expected new hardware purchases for significant portions of their organizations. Software purchases were also expected to increase in most organizations. Staffing, however, will likely remain at current levels. Gambill said of the current situation, “The value organizations place on IT remains strong, and once the economic environment becomes more stable we expect confidence to rise accordingly,” he said. The overall IT Monitor score for the government sector was down four points from its previous reading in August to 70 out of a total possible of 100, its lowest ever. The margin of error for the government-sector survey was plus or minus six percent.