CDW Corporation

CDW’s moat derives from a combination of switching costs, scale economics, and partner credentials rather than a pure network effect. Customers embed CDW in procurement, architecture, integration, financing and lifecycle management, creating relationship depth that is hard to replicate at scale.

The firm serves over 250,000 customers with approximately 10,900 customer‑facing coworkers, offering multi‑vendor solutions across the stack. On the vendor side, CDW is a top channel partner for major OEMs, software publishers and cloud providers, earning premier designations with AWS and comprehensive Microsoft Cloud Partner designations.

These recognitions both validate capabilities and funnel opportunity. Strength and durability by moat component: switching costs 85/100 (embedded account management, services and financing); cost advantage 80/100 (scale buying power, logistics, configuration centers); intangible assets 70/100 (brand, certifications); efficient scale 75/100 (U.S.

IT VAR market remains fragmented with a few large integrators); network effects 35/100 (some partner flywheel, but not a classic user network). Risks to durability include vendor disintermediation by hyperscalers, direct SaaS sales, and large private peers (WWT, SHI) or public peers (NSIT, PLUS) competing aggressively.

The company’s pivot toward services (Amplified Services, Digital Velocity and Mission Cloud) increases stickiness and should modestly strengthen the moat over time.