While there may be signs of growing confidence among IT decision makers in some sectors, small businesses are still exercising caution as they begin 2010.

According to the latest CDW IT Monitor, a bimonthly indicator that tracks the direction and momentum of the U.S. IT marketplace, only 27 percent of IT decision makers at small businesses expect budget increases in the next six months; however, that number is up four percentage points since October 2009.

Additional small business findings from the February CDW IT Monitor include:

• Only 15 percent of small businesses plan to use budgets to implement discretionary IT projects, versus 63 percent of large corporations.
• Thirty-four percent of small businesses expect to replace or install new hardware over the next six months, the lowest percentage among any corporate or government sector.