CDW Corp (CDW)

CDW Corporation is a Fortune 500, S&P 500 multi-brand provider of information technology solutions serving small, medium and large business, government, education, and healthcare customers across the US, UK, and Canada. The company operates as a vendor-agnostic intermediary in the IT ecosystem, offering more than 100,000 products and services from over 1,000 partners—including Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Dell EMC, HP, Microsoft, and VMware—spanning discrete hardware and software products to fully integrated IT solutions delivered on-premise, virtually, and via cloud. CDW's offerings encompass hybrid infrastructure, digital experience, security, and services, supported by approximately 10,600 customer-facing coworkers including sellers, technical specialists, and service delivery engineers.

The company's December 2021 acquisition of Sirius Computer Solutions significantly enhanced its services capabilities in hybrid infrastructure, security, and cloud/managed services, complementing earlier acquisitions such as Kelway (UK, 2015), Scalar Decisions (Canada, 2019), Aptris (2019), IGNW (2020), and Amplified IT and Focal Point Data Risk (2021). CDW operates through three reportable segments—Corporate, Small Business, and Public (government, education, healthcare)—plus UK and Canada operating segments, serving over 250,000 customers in more than 150 countries. The US market represents approximately 90% of revenues, with five dedicated customer channels each generating over $1.9 billion in 2022 net sales, while UK and Canada combined generated $2.9 billion.

For fiscal year 2022, CDW reported total net sales of $23.7 billion, representing about 5% of its estimated $460 billion addressable market within a $1.4 trillion total US/UK/Canada IT market. Sales by category included hardware (76.1%, led by notebooks/mobile devices at 26.0%), software (15.5%), and services (7.8%), with approximately 50% of US net sales derived from solution-oriented product and service categories. The company operates three distribution centers (two in North America, one in the UK) totaling over 1 million square feet, shipping approximately 38 million units annually, with roughly 51% of North America net sales fulfilled via drop-shipment arrangements and 12% delivered electronically (software).

CDW employs approximately 15,100 coworkers globally (12,250 in the US, 1,750 in the UK, 1,100 in Canada), with more than half of US net sales generated by account managers with over seven years of tenure, and maintains a non-unionized workforce. The company competes against resellers, direct manufacturers, cloud providers, telecommunications companies, and e-tailers, differentiating itself through scale, technical expertise, top-tier vendor certifications (Cisco, Dell EMC, HPE, IBM, Microsoft, and others), and a performance-driven sales culture. Founded in 1984, CDW has a history of public/private transitions (public in 1993, private in 2007, public again in 2013) and continues to expand its Amplified Services portfolio through strategic acquisitions while emphasizing diversity, equity and inclusion, coworker training and development, and marketing programs supported by vendor cooperative advertising.