CDW Promises Better Services For VARs

Solution providers account for about 2.5 percent of CDW's revenue, which is expected to top $4 billion by the end of its fiscal year, according to CEO John Edwardson. While Edwardson said he thinks CDW could get more business by working with solution providers, certain contracts with manufacturers prevent the IT direct marketer from doing so. Such a move also could jeopardize CDW's key relationships with broadline distributors Ingram Micro and Tech Data, he said.

"Even though there's a legitimate market we can reach and it's legitimate for us to serve, we don't go after the reseller market," Edwardson said. The amount of product CDW buys from Tech Data and Ingram Micro has decreased between 2 percent and 3 percent since last year, he said.

Instead of partnering with solution providers through formal channel programs, CDW will treat them the same way it treats the rest of its customers: by providing quick delivery, competitive pricing, high-touch service and strong technical support, Edwardson said. Over the past year, the company has mixed in higher-end products and bolstered its services by adding specialty teams focusing on areas such as software, storage and communications; increasing training for account managers, sales reps and technical engineers; and improving its white-box configuration capabilities.

Several solution providers that buy from CDW said they'll continue their relationship with the company even though it canceled its services plan. "It doesn't bother me," said Jack Shaw, CEO and president of Inteo, Portland, Maine. "If something isn't broken, then don't try to fix it. They're still there when I need them."

Shiv Kumar, vice president of business development at Zy Technologies, an Edison, N.J.-based wireless and mobile solution provider, also praised CDW's hands-on customer service and gave kudos to its account management team's technical knowledge. CDW technicians quickly and accurately help him configure the latest software with wireless PDAs,a service that Ingram Micro and Tech Data don't perform as well, Kumar said.

"CDW's customer support engineers verify product information and help me with compatibility issues," he said. "CDW seems to train its engineers better than Ingram Micro and Tech Data do. That saves me a lot of time."

But not all solution providers are happy CDW customers. Last year, John Marler, president of MarFam Computer Solutions, San Jose, Calif., lauded CDW for its customer service and proactive account managers, who notified him of special deals that sometimes beat major distributors' prices. But now D&H Distributing, Tech Data and occasionally Ingram Micro provide the best price after a bit of haggling, he said.

"I used to buy 25 percent to 30 percent of my hardware from CDW, but I'm not going to fund my competition," Marler said. "It's so silly. It's like buying from Dell."

Edwardson said he can sympathize with Marler. He calls Dell Computer CDW's "archenemy" and rails against OEMs that sell their product through Dell's DellWare reseller program. But even if CDW competes against solution providers and won't relay services leads, Edwardson said there are still plenty of reasons for them to work with his company. "If they're buying from us, it's because our service is better, they have a problem they need to fix, we can get the product quickly or our price is better," he said.