We've been seeing strong signs of optimism about the economy in our customer base and in the prospective customers as well, so I was interested to see the results of PwC's survey of 60 multinational U.S. industrial manufacturing companies.  While this is a somewhat different segment of manufacturing than most of our customers, I think there's definitely enough overlap to be relevant to high tech. 

Based on the survey summary released today, these companies expect global economic growth this year and are planning accordingly.  Here's a quick overview of some of the findings: 

·         Most survey respondents plan to increase hiring in 2012.

·         The majority of those surveyed plan to increase investment spending this year. 

·         Companies report improved profitability in recent quarters.

·         There's less worry today about growth barriers than in the recent past.

One section of the survey that may be of particular interest to readers here is how the overwhelming majority of these companies have used technology to help achieve their strategic objectives to date.  In fact, a full 98% of these companies credit technology for improving operating performance in areas such as business intelligence and reporting and manufacturing and supply chain/distribution processes.   Most also cite increased business agility as a benefit of technology investments.

Going forward, 71% of these companies will be looking to digital change and transformation as a key enabler for their business growth over the next 1-2 years.  Why?   The two most common reasons are customer demands, especially for product information access, and supplier demands, especially for order management capabilities. 

Finally, 57% stated that their immediate plans for technology investment include cloud computing.

It's worth reading the entire summary, if you have a chance.