Analysis: CDW’s Hiring Of HPE’s Hang Tan Underscores Enterprise Services Ambitions

Former HPE Hybrid Cloud COO Hang Tan joined CDW last week as its new chief strategy and transformation officer, signaling that a broader strategic pivot toward higher-margin enterprise services is underway as the $22.42 billion solution provider overhauls itself for the AI era.

CDW, which reports first quarter results on May 6, disclosed Tan’s hiring on April 23 in a brief press release that included no statement from Tan.

The Vernon Hills, Ill.-based company had not responded to CRN’s requests for comment as of press time. But industry observers, including CEOs from solution providers that compete with CDW, told CRN they can read between the lines.

“This points to CDW wanting to become a higher-margin organization,” said the CEO of a technology vendor who works with CDW and did not want to be identified. “It looks to me like Hang Tan is being brought in to help them flip the script on being a box-mover. CDW doesn’t need to get bigger. It is already huge. What they need to do is figure out how to be more strategic, more AI-relevant and more services-led for the customers they do have.”

The CEO of a rival solution provider said the hiring shows that CDW wants more AI enterprise services revenue. “It looks to me like the board is pressuring [Chair and CEO] Christine Leahy to get more enterprise services business,” said the solution provider CEO. “If you are hiring someone from Bain who is a consultant-type with enterprise experience from a big vendor, it means they are trying to come up with an enterprise services strategy that protects their customer base.”

That’s a reference to Tan’s pedigree, which includes six years at HPE, first overseeing venture investments and then helping map out HPE’s hybrid cloud strategy. He also had a decade-long stint at corporate strategist Bain & Company—a traditional training ground for CEOs—and earned a Harvard MBA.

CDW said Tan, who will be responsible for enterprise strategy, transformation office and corporate development, will report directly to Leahy.

His addition to the C-suite is a sign that the company is looking for an outsider to bring strategic change to the CDW organization, possibly through acquisitions, said CDW competitors.

Under Leahy, CDW has already made a number of acquisitions to boost its enterprise services business, including the acquisitions of AWS cloud service providers Mission Cloud Services in 2024 and Enquizit in 2023. The biggest acquisition under Leahy came in 2021 when the company acquired Sirius Computer Solutions for $2.5 billion. That deal, Leahy proclaimed at the time, “meaningfully” expanded and scaled the company’s services and solutions capabilities.

“What Tan is most likely going to do is see if there are any acquisitions out there that would boost CDW’s position in the AI market,” said a top sales executive for a solution provider. “Companies like WWT and Ahead, which have a big business in the enterprise data center, are growing much faster than CDW. CDW is not embedded in the data center from a strategic standpoint like WWT and Ahead.”

One big challenge as CDW moves to become a bigger strategic enterprise services provider is its much lower ratio of in-the-field data center services professionals compared with its force of dedicated inside sales reps.

“CDW traditionally has not had a lot of technical resources available in the field office level, which makes it hard to compete in the corporate market against regional providers like us,” said the CEO for a large regional solution provider that goes head to head with CDW. “It looks to me like they are taking a step to remedy that by hiring Tan.”

Other CEOs of solution providers that compete with CDW said Tan faces a challenge in transitioning from a major OEM like HPE to a solution provider like CDW.

“It is going to be interesting to see how Hang Tan handles going from an OEM mentality and culture to a partner culture,” said one CEO that competes with CDW. “That is a significant shift. Not many executives have actually migrated from the OEM side to the partner side and survived. There are very few people that are able to deal with the different culture and the different go to market.”

By The Numbers

CDW’s 2025 results show gross profit margin pressure and a continuing heavy reliance on hardware sales.

CDW said in its 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that gross profit for 2025 decreased 20 basis points to 21.7 percent, primarily driven by “decreased rates in certain hardware categories.”

CDW reported total hardware sales in 2025 of $16.07 billion, or 71.6 percent of total sales, in 2025 compared with enterprise services revenue of $2.03 billion, or 9.1 percent of total sales.

CDW’s corporate sales in the most recent quarter, meanwhile, were $2.37 billion, down 0.6 percent from the same period one year ago.

In the press release announcing Tan’s appointment, Leahy said: “Hang brings a powerful combination of deep technology experience and a track record of success translating strategy into growth, both organic and inorganic. I look forward to him joining the team as we accelerate our AI-forward, full-lifecycle strategy to deliver meaningful outcomes for our customers, outsized growth for our partners, and sustainable, long-term value for our shareholders.”

Tan’s hiring will almost certainly be a topic of discussion during its earnings call.

The Wall Street consensus is for earnings of $2.28 per share for the quarter ended March 31, a 6.1 percent increase, on sales of $5.4 billion, up 3.9 percent from the same period one year ago, according to Zacks Investment Research.

CDW shares—which closed May 4 down 73 cents, or 1 percent, to $135.30—are down 30 percent from the 52-week high of $192.30.

CDW is not the only corporate reseller behemoth attempting to increase its services revenue.

Insight Enterprises recently hired Jack Azagury, a 29-year Accenture services veteran, as its new president and CEO, effective April 13 as part of a move it referred to as accelerating the company’s transformation into an “AI-first solutions integrator.”

Is Tan The Next CEO?

Several CEO competitors said CDW could be positioning Tan as a possible successor to Christine Leahy.

“It looks to me from the responsibilities they have given Hang that he is being prepped to be the next CEO,” said one rival solution provider CEO. “It looks like they want Hang to change the company and transform it. If he is in charge of corporate development, it means he is responsible for changing the corporate culture. It’s a very convoluted role with three pillars [enterprise strategy, transformation office, and corporate development] that do not align.”

A CEO for a top CRN Solution Provider 500 company, who did not want to be identified, said he sees the appointment as CDW looking to fundamentally change its corporate culture.

“This is a company that is looking to attract different leadership to change the business to drive more enterprise services,” he said. “That’s a big change. It’s going to require them to bring in more outside talent than just Hang Tan. CDW is a big organization. It is a lot harder to turn an aircraft carrier like CDW than a smaller organization. Hang Tan has his work cut out for him.”