CHICAGO – According to the fourth annual Year-in-Review survey from CDW, after a cautious 2010, a new survey of IT decision makers suggests a renewed commitment to technology investment is on the horizon as more organizations begin to address their strategic technology needs that were sidelined during the long economic downturn.

The survey found that 46 percent of IT decision makers say IT investment is a top spending priority for their organizations in 2011. In the previous year’s survey, only 36 percent expected technology improvements to be a top business priority for 2010. In fact, in this year’s survey, for 31 percent of IT decision makers across corporate and government sectors, the focus on IT investment is a new priority for their organizations.

When asked about the types of investments their organizations are planning to make in 2011, more than half (55 percent) of overall IT decision makers say they will be purchasing new PCs. Solutions that deliver greater efficiency also factor highly on the list, including mobility and virtualization (34 percent and 32 percent, respectively).

“After seeing a delay in refresh cycles during the recession, IT decision makers across the board are evaluating current technologies and planning to invest in areas that will bring value to their organization,” said Thomas E. Richards, president and COO, CDW. “Solutions like virtualization, which reduces operational costs and helps to eliminate downtime, also will play a stronger role in demonstrating the growing business value of IT.”

In the public sector, security solutions rank highly on the list of planned IT investments in 2011. Seventy percent of IT decision makers at federal government organizations and 59 percent of those in state government organizations cite security as a top spending priority in the new year.

“As more government organizations launch pilot programs that employ solutions such as cloud computing and virtualization, cyber security will naturally be top of mind,” added Richards.

This column was written by Mark Cox of ConnectIT, an IntegratedMar.Com

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