Small businesses in IT and other organisations in the sector have experienced a massive upturn in market assurance, according to a new survey.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) revealed in its Business Confidence Monitor that there was a "record" rise in confidence over all sectors, with IT faring best, perhaps spelling out a strong future for IT support.

Michael Izza, the chief executive of the ICAEW, explained that the last quarter saw a rise from -28.2 per cent to 4.8 per cent in terms of confidence, though warned that there is a tough time ahead.

"Businesses have taken the right actions to mitigate the impact of the downturn and are playing their part in an improving economy. Policies such as quantitative easing, the fall in interest rates and the VAT reduction have all helped improve business confidence."

He added that the recovery is still very fragile and would urge the powers that be not to take any actions that could derail this renewed confidence.

The ICAEW currently provides leadership and practical support to over 132,000 members in 165 countries across the globe.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.