Executives are increasingly confident about prospects for the wider economy, the IT industry and their own businesses, according to research.

The CompTIA IT Industry Business Confidence Index, a specialist barometer of confidence in the technology industry, reached its high point for 2014 during the fourth quarter.

The Index stands at 62.1 on a 100-point scale, reversing the downward momentum of the third quarter, when the index slipped to 60.1.

Tim Herbert, vice president of research and market intelligence at CompTIA, said the gains are due to several factors.

"Economic growth has been steady, though unremarkable; IT employment remains robust; and the wave of innovation that started several years ago continues to generate strong demand from buyers," he said.

The Index’s forward looking component projects a gain of 3.0 points, suggesting industry executives feel generally positive about business prospects for the next six months.

MJ Shoer, chairman of the CompTIA Board of Directors, said the results parallel sentiment among many IT firms that there are new opportunities to exploit in the market.

"Companies with the right mix of technical and business expertise are benefiting from strong customer demand for cloud solutions, managed IT services and security support," he said.

The Index is based on IT executives’ opinions of the US economy, the industry and a self-assessment of their own company, and is produced by technology association CompTIA.