Reasons to be cheerful?

Yirrell: Cause for hope exists

And if I added an extra pound every time I heard the words ‘green shoots’, I could start planning my round-the-world party cruise.

It is still way too early to predict whether we are coming out of the recession (ker-ching!). But a random conversation with one reseller about the customer sales cycle prompted me to do a quick straw poll of readers across a number of sectors to find out what was really happening.

When the harder times hit earlier this year, everybody was talking about the time it was taking for customers to actually sign off a deal ­ up to four times as long as it once did.

But this one reseller I spoke to said the delay in customer decision-making had ended as abruptly as it started, and that business was rolling in.

For others, it’s not quite so black and white, but it appears the financial sector at least has had its spending freeze lifted, and generally people are quietly optimistic that the economic pick-up will gather pace next year.

Whether we are heading for another dip remains to be seen, but the fact that we are seeing some positive signs is a good enough start for me.

Sara Yirrell is editor of CRN ­- contact her at sara.yirrell@incisivemedia.com