Solving complexity starts with IT experts. CDW designs, implements, and manages customised services and solutions for organisations big and small.

Why Work with CDW?

We bring together the services and technologies that solve your business problems.


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Production of physical devices used for computing activity including personal computers, processors, servers, firewalls, networking equipment, wifi devices, network routing equipment, printers, along with subcomponents and peripheral devices. 

Computer hardware

Creating and selling computer software: whether for on premise, hybrid cloud, or cloud; whether created for commercial enterprises, not for profit, or for retail customers;  whether designed to run on a computer, a mobile device, a server, or cloud provisioned virtual hardware.

Computer software categories include:

- bespoke software designed for your needs: be it an app for your new start-up, a new website or an enterprise application for your business
- commercial off the shelf software (COTS) designed to be best in class for a specific business need or function.
- SAAS - software as a service - running from the cloud.  You don't need to do anything to support the software, you simply subscribe to the service.
- OS - operating software - the software that keeps your computer hardware, or indeed cloud hardware operating as it should
- PAAS - software that supports platform as a service - you don't need to look after the hardware, or the patching, or the provisioning, this is all done for you
- SASE - pronounced SASSY - the new software that 'virtualises' all the hardware and connectivity - so you never need to buy or look after a firewall again

Standard core business software application types include ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), MRP (Manufacturing Requirements Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Finance, Accounting, and HR - furthermore each business sector will have specific application types.

Core consumer software categories include gaming, gambling and social media as examples, but the total range of consumer software categories is vast.

The scope, function, and role of software applications is going through a generational change with the power of AI technologies.

Software

A physical firewall is the device that sits between your corporate network and the internet, in place to restrict and control both traffic and access to your network to authorised users and systems, and authorised traffic types.
 
Firewalls protect against data loss, and also against cyber attack

Physical firewalls

IP Telephony is digital telephony, otherwise known as Voice over Internet Protocol or VOIP.    

Legacy telephone systems run off a physical PABX (private automatic branch exchange). A PABX is an analogue system, where the voice is transmitted in analogue format sound waves over copper wires on a PSTN / Public Switched Telephone Network.    VOIP or IP Telephony runs off virtual PABXs either hosted on a server, or in the cloud, and the voice is transmitted in a digital format over fibre or ethernet.

IP Telephony: VOIP

Systems and services related to getting value and competitive advantage from your company data.  Analytics can be descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, or prescriptive.

Data analytics applications include marketing, portfolio, risk, people, software, and digital analytics. 

**Marketing optimisation analytics**

Determining how effective marketing campaigns are and guiding marketing decisions and strategy

**People analytics**

Analysing behavioural data to understand how people are managed, how they perform, and helping improve the Human Resources function within organisations, and ultimately the overall performance of the company itself.

**Portfolio analytics**

Using analytics to understand value and risk in a portfolio - be it of lenders, stock holdings, financial holding etc. - and then drive strategy to minimise risk and optimise returns.

**Digital analytics**

Analysing "digital data" relating to computerised and internet activities.  Digital data includes user clicks, user behaviour, keyword searches, etc.

**Security analytics**

Analysing data either on premise or in the cloud to flag cyber threats, cyber threat actors, cyber attacks, and to deliver post breach forensics on an attack.

Data Analytics

Everything from migration to cloud, to supporting different platforms including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud (GCP), and layered with managed services on top.

Cloud Managed Service Provider

AI as a Service / AIaaS - pronounced "ace" is a platform that ingests and analyses specific known data sets, and then provides output that meets confirmed quality criteria, and provides certainty, where required, with regard to IP sources and ownership.


Generative AI platforms are trained on, and ingest large volumes of data from multiple sources.  The issue with this is that the factual integrity of the input, along with IP ownership of the input cannot be confirmed, which makes commercial usability and value of the output questionable.    

AIaaS platforms give control of the data ingested to the user - e.g. internal corporate documentation and contracts, specific website links - so that the IP ownership is known, the credibility of the sources are confirmed, and accordingly the user can know the allowable commercial use cases of the output.

Vertical AI - AI designed for a specific sector or vertical is typically an example of AIaaS.

AI as a Service - AIaaS

Creation, coding and development of software for business applications and mobile apps; providing technology solutions and consultancy services to assist application development.

Application development can use Waterfall or Agile methodologies.

Core to the Agile methodology, is DevOps where the Software Development and Live Business Environment Operations teams are joined, rather than being siloed, and where there is continuous deployment of updates, and automated software testing.

Application development is also referred to as custom software development.

The application development process includes
- a discovery phase
- confirmation of high level functionality
- estimation of development costs
- design of the UI / User Interface aka GUI / Graphical User Interface or the front end of an application
- design and architecture of the back end of the application
- specification of the technology stack
- ensuring best security standards and practices
- development of the prototype
- testing
- release to production, often as an MVP / Minimum Viable Product

Application development

Web development services and technology to design, create, and manage websites, so that they deliver for your business, and perform well. 

Designing websites and website applications with strong UIs (user interface) and UXs (user experience) so that they are easy to use, appealing to look at, and well structured from a logical and business perspective.

And then, beyond the design and the function, there is the performance.  It is vital that a website is responsive and fast: this is a function of the hosting, the architected design, and the technologies and languages chosen to build it with.  If the website has business functions, then reliability and accuracy is mandatory.  Integrity of data is ensured by adhering to ACID design principles.

Finally there is the key element of security.  Websites need to be built in alignment with OWASP, and developer teams should have a "security first" approach to design, with assigned AppSec responsibilities.

Website Development and Support

Endpoint security is providing protection against cyber attack for all an organisations' devices that exist on the edge of a corporate network. This can include servers, PCs, Macs, mobile phones, tablets, other user devices, and IoT (Internet of Things) devices. 

Endpoint security includes: 
EDR (endpoint detection and response), 
EPP (endpoint protection platforms), network firewalls 
IDPS, (intrusion detection and prevention systems), 
NDR (network detection and response), IAM (identity and access management), email security, mobile threat detection, 
SSE (security services edge), 
SIEM (Security Incident and Event Management), 
SOAR (security orchestration automation and response) 
...,all of which collectively are now known as XDR (Extended Detection and Response).

VPNs or Virtual Private Networks are an essential part of endpoint security, protecting against phishing or web-based attacks.

Endpoint Security

Services and technologies that enable your company to be sure that only the right people get access to the right systems at the right level to do what they need to do.  




IAM is the term used for the management of credentials and access levels of authorised staff to company systems.

CIAM - Customer Identity and Access Management - is the term used for the management of credentials and access levels of third party customers to externally facing applications.

At the heart of IAM and CIAM is the delivery of data security, and data governance controls: both for corporate data, and for the personal data of customers and employees.

Identity and Access Management - IAM

Software and Services that support part or all of the business of IT Service Management delivered by an IT Service provider or IT MSP  - ranging from helpdesk software (IT Service Management / ITSM software), MSP business management software, through to policy management, and cyber security software, plus 1st to 3rd line support backup, cyber security operations, etc. helping your company deliver the very best service to your clients.