CDW 2003 Annual Report Download - page 6

Paul is one of approximately 140 technology specialists who
help CDW account managers provide our customers with
innovative, cost-effective solutions. While our account managers
are knowledgeable about our entire range
of brand-name products, our specialists
are experts on specific technologies
and product categories, such as
mobile/wireless, security,
storage, networking, power,
telephony, bandwidth,
software licensing, and
technology services. They
explain complex technology
issues in language that the
customer can understand,
and typically aid customers’
senior level IT directors with
selection, design, and implementation
guidelines for larger projects.
Had Chris placed her order with any other supplier, chances
are she’d lose valuable time by having to load her company’s
custom image and ship the notebooks herself from her corporate
office. Not with CDW—our file transfer protocol site enables
customers to provide us with secure images of their proprietary
licensed software programs, which we load directly to our
customers’ computers.
We save customers deployment and integration delays with
our fast turn-around times and next-day delivery options to
any location.
At CDW, we are constantly finding new ways to improve
customer service in every area of our company.
Support functions, such as credit approval, are designed and
executed with a focus on speed, service, and customer
satisfaction. Our credit department contributes to a positive
experience for our customers by utilizing Web-enabled
research and approval processes.
We rely on an automated scorecard—a decision matrix—that
enables us to process hundreds of credit requests from new
corporate, government, and education customers every day.
The matrix manages our risk and ensures consistent
decisions for all of our customers. When a business opens an
account with us, we archive its credit information so that
subsequent purchases within the credit limit can be
automatically approved. By linking additional databases to
our decision scorecard, we’re making our processes even more
flexible and efficient for our customers.
Company-wide support—for every customer.
12:00noon
We offer comprehensive product knowledge and customized services.
Utilizing the experts. By asking Chris the right questions,
Paul determines her requirements for wireless capabilities,
data speed, and security. He describes the configuration
options and recommends the cellular card wireless carrier
with the best coverage area and rate plan to meet her needs.
Chris has another concern: “I can’t release these notebooks
to the field until I’ve loaded our company software image.
I’m going to lose an entire day, maybe two, just loading software
and shipping them out.”
“No problem,” says Mark. “We’ll configure and load your software
right here, apply the CDW asset tags, and ship the notebooks directly
to each location, so you won’t lose any time.”
Chris then makes her final selections, including the accidental damage warranty to protect her new technology
investment and a shipping carrier for next-day delivery.
11:00am
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CDW 2003
Rapid credit approval. Now that Chris
has made her decisions, Mark creates a quote for
her review. With her approval, he converts the
quote into an order, and within minutes Chris
faxes Mark the purchase order, which he receives
directly at his computer. Mark forwards the
purchase order to CDW’s credit department,
and asks to establish an account with a
specified credit limit for Chris’ company.
Thanks to CDW’s efficient credit approval process,
the request for credit is approved within the hour,
and Chris’ purchase order is processed and released.
Mark e-mails Chris to give her the good news: “Your field
reps will have their notebooks tomorrow, fully configured,
and set up for wireless.”