Research firms often rely on economic forecasting to determine where an industry is headed. But where do the people who actually work in the IT Industry think it’s going? Responses collected from professionals at over 500 IT firms reveal lukewarm emotions about 2013 growth, with certain sectors considerably more hopeful than others

1. Insiders’ Opinions
of the IT Industry
Research firms often rely on economic forecasting to determine where an
industry is headed. But where do the people who actually work in the IT
Industry think it’s going? Responses collected from professionals
at over 500 IT firms reveal lukewarm emotions
about 2013 growth, with certain sectors
considerably more hopeful than others.
Business Confidence:
After a pessimistic start to 2012, the clouds are starting to part for
IT industry executives’ business confidence levels in 2013.
• Q1 2013 Rating – 56.6
• Q4 2012 Rating – 56.4
• Forward-looking rating for 2013 –
another 2.3 points (up to 58.9)
Expected Margins and Profitability
Execs are most hopeful about 2013 profitability in the
Software and IT Services sectors. The continued decline in
PC popularity, commoditization and continued migration to
the cloud are keeping Hardware sector forecasts lukewarm.
Hardware sector:
22% better
46% no changee
33% worse
Software sector:
45% better
40% no change
15% worse
IT Services sector:
49% better
37% no change
14% worse
Telecom sector:
32% better
47% no change
21% worse
Overall Industry: Moderately better (2012 v. 2013): 30 v. 34%; Moderately worse (2012 v. 2013): 18 v. 21%
As uncovered by CompTIA’s IT Industry Outlook 2013
Expected Changes in Spending and Investments
The start of a new year brings with it new spending expectations in mobility, Big Data
and unified communications, which are up across the board from Q4 2012.
Spending more:
• 43% of firms plan to increase
investments in new products or
business lines
• 40% of firms plan to increase
staffing levels in technical
positions
• 38% of firms plan to increase
their overall technology
expenditures
Spending less:
• 27% of firms are cutting down on
business travel
• 20% of firms are minimizing their
non-technology capital expenditures
Threats to the Industry
Despite being a couple years out from
the Great Recession and in the midst of
a recovery, economic volatility is still
driving the fears that keep IT
executives up at night.
Executives are
worrying less about
access to credit and
capital, down to 17%
from 25% in 2012
For 2013, 24% of IT
executives are
beginning to view
lengthy sales cycles as
a potential obstacle to
industry growth.
48% of executives
consider stalled
economic recovery a
major threat to industry
growth in 2013
Fear of unexpected
shock (e.g., another
European debt crisis,
oil prices) is up to 31%,
from 25% in 2012
View additional CompTIA business research at
http://www.comptia.org/research/businessandeconomics.aspx
CompTIA Research and Market Intelligence provides timely, relevant data and insights for the IT industry. CompTIA has a library of over 100 research reports and whitepapers, with new material published
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