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Across North American the economic situation seems to be improving. We are certainly not back to boom times but overall confidence seems to edging back up and we are seeing signs for cautious optimism for 2010. Most believe we have come out of recession and the debate seems to center around how quick or slow the recovery will be (my personal bet is slow and steady.) As we enter recovery the renewed growth will present contractors with significant opportunities for growth but only if they have the people and systems in place to take on the extra work. This makes now an ideal time to invest in IT systems.
The market is currently running lean. Very lean! The recent recession definitely had the effect of shaking out some weaker competitors and shrinking just about everyone. As the business returns there will be huge potential for growth especially for those with capacity. For everyone else there will be a race to add people quickly enough to grow. I believe that people will be the limiting factor for growth through late 2010 and 2011. The challenge in all this is that recruiting and training new people is very time consuming. This is where IT investments come in.