CDW 2006 Annual Report Download - page 12

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national basis through our branding campaign, which includes print media, television and online
advertisements, and other activities. Our marketing efforts are integrated with a proactive outbound
calling program by our account managers. We also focus significant efforts on developing and
expanding our E-commerce initiatives. These initiatives include CDW.com, CDWG.com, and
CDW.ca (our Web sites), and CDW@work® and CDWG@work® (our extranets), which are
customized Web sites for our commercial customers.
We adhere to a core philosophy known as the CDW CIRCLE OF SERVICE, which places the
customer at the center of all of the Company’s actions. The fundamental element of the CDW
CIRCLE OF SERVICE is our coworkers, who are highly motivated to share in the Company’s
success. The CDW CIRCLE OF SERVICE philosophy is based on the premise that “People Do
Business With People They Like.”
Electronic versions of CDW’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q,
Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports are available free of charge through
our Web site, CDW.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file these reports
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Acquisitions
Berbee. On October 11, 2006, we completed the acquisition of Berbee, a leading provider of
information technology solutions and engineering capabilities in advanced technologies primarily
across the Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft platforms. Areas of expertise include strategic technology
planning, network infrastructure and unified communications, systems and storage, security,
productivity applications and managed services. Berbee has 11 offices and two data centers in six
Midwestern states and employed approximately 850 coworkers at December 31, 2006. Berbee
operates as a separate strategic business unit of CDW with its current product and service offerings.
Berbee’s customer base includes corporate, healthcare, education, and state and local
government customers, many of whom are larger enterprise class customers. Customers value
Berbee’s engineering capabilities, OEM relationships and certification levels, service in advanced
technologies, and proprietary process methodologies.
Berbee is a national gold certified partner with Cisco and a premier business partner with IBM
authorized to sell all IBM server and storage lines, and has six Microsoft gold certifications. Berbee
received recognition as Cisco’s U.S. IP Communications Partner of the Year in 2005, and IBM
Beacon Award for Best IBM iSeries On Demand Solution in 2006, and Microsoft Central Region
Partner of the Year in 2006.
Micro Warehouse. In September 2003, we purchased selected U.S. assets and the Canadian
operations of Micro Warehouse, a reseller of computers, software and peripheral products. Building
on the Micro Warehouse transactions, we expanded our customer base, increased our penetration in
the public sector, and extended our growth platform into Canada.
Business Strategy
The Company’s strategy is to be a single source provider of information technology products and
services for our customers. Historically, we implemented our strategy as a high volume, cost-efficient
direct marketer of multi-branded, competitively-priced information technology products and services,
while providing a high level of support to our customers.
In 2006, through the purchase of Berbee, our strategy has evolved to include providing
information technology solutions and engineering capabilities in advanced technologies. We intend
to use Berbee as a platform to expand our capability to offer advanced technology solutions and
engineering capability on a national basis. We will consider both organic and acquisition
opportunities in expanding the platform.