CDW 2004 Annual Report Download - page 4

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While it has taken us 21 years to nearly reach full capacity of our current distribution center, our sales
team will be working hard to make sure we reach capacity in the North Las Vegas distribution center
much more quickly! To do so, we expect to grow our sales force by an additional 100 to 125 net new account
managers and product specialists during 2005. In addition, we will further segment our sales and marketing
efforts and, of course, focus on growing our new SolutionEdge™ initiative as rapidly as possible. As we
announced in September 2004, SolutionEdge is a pilot program in which we partner with select
technology solution providers (SPs) to provide products to their customers. The program—the first of its kind
for a direct marketer—allows solution providers to streamline their businesses, concentrate on services, and reduce working capital requirements.
Customers will enjoy all the benefits of utilizing CDW for procurement, while continuing to use their SP advisors. We expect to tap into
incremental market share and further grow our customer base with this innovative program.
We intend to work hard to grow revenue at above-market rates, but we also want to grow our profitability just as fast. New financial information
systems have been implemented over the past two years that give us more information than we have ever had on profitability by channel,
product group, and customer. Having this information will help us continue to make the right decisions with respect to our investment in people
and capital for the future. And, these systems will serve as a competitive tool to help us serve our customers better and motivate our sales force
to deliver profitable growth.
As we look past 2005, we continue to see a world of opportunity for CDW. The U.S. market will continue to be our principal focus. With market
share of only 5% to 6% of our addressable market, we have ample opportunity to grow domestically. We will also invest in growing our
Canadian business as quickly as possible to at least the same level as our U.S. market share. Beyond North America, there are millions of customers
waiting to do business with a company whose coworkers are as well trained and dedicated as ours. We will be building our brand and our
capabilities to get ready to serve them.
In closing, I want to thank our coworkers for all the records they set in 2004. These records were made to be broken, and we will be working hard
to do just that in 2005.
Nobody does it better.
Thanks again for your confidence and support.
Sincerely,
John A. Edwardson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
March 11, 2005