Prague, January 4, 2012 – In an unprecedentedly large survey of organizations across nine countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), 85% considered their business prospects for the next 12 months to be positive. The IDC IT Buyers’ Pulse, a special survey focused on overall business sentiment and investments in information and communications technologies (ICT), shows that large organizations (>500 employees) are significantly more optimistic than their medium-sized and small counterparts, with 38% of them viewing their business prospects as excellent.

“The sentiment across the region is generally cautiously optimistic,” says Zoltan Komaromi, the manager of the research project. “Russia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and the Ukraine stand out as the countries in which organizations are most optimistic regarding their business prospects. Unsurprisingly, Greek companies are the most pessimistic in CEE, followed at some distance by Hungarian organizations.”

Despite the ongoing economic uncertainty, 26% of organizations are planning to increase their ICT budgets, while 48% foresee no change. These expectations for this financial year's ICT expenditures translate into a moderate increase in ICT spending in the CEE region, but most likely an increase of less than 3% year on year.

“Priorities related to the external market environment and internal processes are equally represented among the top IT-related priorities,” says Komaromi. “The two top priorities are improving customer service and supporting product and service development, indicating that IT is firmly behind the drive to ensure organizations are primarily market-driven in nature.”

The IDC IT Buyers’ Pulse survey indicates that cost is no longer the predominant factor for businesses when investing in IT. Instead, security, reliability, and uptime have moved to the top of IT decision makers’ concerns regarding IT's support of business processes, although the larger an organization is, the less concerned it is likely to be regarding security, since larger entities are generally more advanced in terms of secure IT processes and systems implemented.

“Security is the top concern across almost all vertical markets, while reliability and uptime are especially critical in the business services and finance industries,” says Zoltan Komaromi. “The government sector stands out as the most cost-conscious market in CEE, and manufacturers are looking for cheap and flexible IT solutions, as they need to be able to react quickly to market developments given the volatile business environment in which they operate. In line with the overall market, financial institutions primarily value security, reliability, and uptime; but, being the least sensitive to price, they are also willing to pay the extra cost.”

The IDC IT Buyers' Pulse Report presents a comprehensive overview of IT strategies and execution plans and measures technology adoption levels in businesses and public institutions in CEE. The study is based on an unprecedentedly large and representative survey, with representatives of 1,660 organizations, both private and public, interviewed across nine CEE countries in the summer of 2011.

For more information about the research, please contact Sarka Grundy at sgrundy@idc.com or on +420 221 423 140 or visit www.itbuyerspulse.com.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For more than 47 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.