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43 percent of IT industry executives say they believe 2008 IT budgets will be higher than in '07.

An additional 9 percent say budgets will be much higher, according to CDW Corporation's Information Technology Industry Straw Poll of 266 IT industry executives, taken at the 2007 CDW Partner Summit, reports MarketingCharts.

The Poll also revealed a shift in how the IT industry communicates the value of technology to business execs, CDW said:

• When asked to cite the top reason customers purchase their product, service or solution, just 13 percent cited technology leadership - while 83 percent cited business benefits such as increasing operational efficiency (38 percent), building or expanding a competitive advantage (16 percent), and supporting expansion and/or revenue growth (9 percent).

• When asked to choose how they would like their company to be perceived by customers, 31 percent indicated a desire to be known as a provider of leading business solutions; 21 percent indicated that they would like to be known as a partner that understands customers' problems; and 32 percent expressed the desire to be known as a technology leader.

"The IT industry clearly recognizes the need to create business value and to communicate that value to support both IT and business executives," said Matt Troka, vice-president for product and partner management at CDW.

"While technology leadership is still important for driving innovation, customers need IT solutions that are specifically tailored to solve their unique business challenges."

MarketingCharts provides more findings from the straw poll of IT execs.