Forrester Research also takes this stance. In contrast to 2001/2002, where companies cut IT budgets because they needed to digest all the spending they had done through the dawn of the Internet era right through Y2K, companies now need and want technology including cloud-computing services and infrastructure, according to Forrester. The reason IT spending has plunged is not because businesses don't want technology, but that they are hoarding cash until the financial markets stabilize, Forrester analysts have said.

Buoyed partly by tech stocks, markets rose broadly Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 43 points to 1670. The Nasdaq is in positive territory for the year, recovering from a seven-year low in early March. Whether this trend continues depends to a large degree on how the rest of earnings season goes.