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Lifecycle Management

CDW's lifecycle management approach supports customers across the full technology lifecycle: from responsible packaging and transport, to active technology management, to secure and sustainable end-of-life disposition. Our goal is to help customers manage risk, recover value, and minimize environmental impact at every stage.

Packaging And Transport

CDW leverages transportation and packaging strategies that help our customers more efficiently use resources. Our transportation strategy emphasizes coordinated carrier management, freight optimization, and formal risk and compliance processes, including auditable chain-of-custody controls and carrier qualification standards. We prioritize packaging that protects products in-transit and focus on packaging recyclability to help customers reduce their waste footprint.

We track carrier climate commitments to support accountability across our delivery network. Our Order Management System (OMS) routes shipments from the closest of 250+ warehouses to reduce distance and emissions. OMS enables intelligent sourcing across a global ecosystem of suppliers and distributed warehouse locations. By dynamically selecting fulfillment points based on proximity and availability, we reduce transportation distance and minimize environmental impact, while maintaining supply chain resilience during disruptions by rerouting orders if needed.

We ship products in 100% recyclable packaging, and in the UK, we've implemented packaging changes that remove single use plastics from deliveries.

Within transportation, we focus on reliability, cost discipline, and controlled execution across our distribution network. Our governance frameworks, supplier oversight, and ISO-aligned controls across product lifecycle and transportation activities help customers mitigate risk, reduce logistics costs, minimize product damage, and reduce environmental impact. To provide reliable, efficient service, we maintain severe weather and volume-switching protocols, follow documented and auditable processes, and maintain relationships with a robust network of logistics providers.

IT Asset Disposition (ITAD)

CDW's ITAD program helps customers manage retired technology assets responsibly by prioritizing data security, recovering value, and diverting electronic waste from landfills. We follow a tiered model that aligns our disposal approach to the lifecycle stage of the product:

Redeploy:
Functioning devices that still meet organizational needs are assessed and redeployed to extend useful life, reducing equipment costs and lowering environmental impact.
Remarket:
Surplus assets are converted into buyback value for customers’ CDW accounts, lowering their costs while redistributing assets to be resold or donated.
Recycle:
Assets that cannot be redeployed or remarketed are processed by certified recyclers, extracting valuable materials and preventing improper disposal.

Our vetted ecosystem of ITAD partners assess asset conditions and determine the appropriate disposal channel, as well as ensure any existing data is securely erased. All our ITAD partners maintain recognized certifications, including e-Stewards, R2v3, ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 14001, ISO45001, and NAID AAA, certifying data security and environmental compliance at every stage.

To support our customers to reach their own goals, we enforce a zero-landfill policy and provide specific documentation about how each asset was disposed of, helping to provide secure chain-of-custody to meet regulatory requirements, pass on cost recovery, and promote a more circular IT economy.

A large non-profit healthcare system with more than 50 hospitals and thousands of active physicians relies on CDW for ongoing IT asset disposition and lifecycle management. Facing rising IT hardware costs, inefficient device refresh cycles, and growing pressure to align IT operations with sustainability goals, they partnered with CDW to optimize their IT asset lifecycle. We provided comprehensive Services & Solutions, including secure logistics, data sanitization, auditing and testing, remarketing, hard drive destruction, and zero-landfill recycling. This resulted in them reducing capital spend, improving operational efficiency, and accelerating progress toward long term carbon reduction objectives.
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Rubi®

Rubi is CDW's digital platform for planning, procuring, and managing technology, connecting customers to self-service capabilities and real-time insights into their technology suite. With Rubi, customers can make purchases, view past asset history, actively manage software licenses, and track shipments.

Asset Hub helps customers manage the lifecycle of all their technology assets by providing a concentrated view of every hardware, software, and subscription asset purchased. It helps customers stay ahead of hardware refresh needs, plan for software renewals, and actively manage subscriptions. CDW also invests in continuous enhancements, including AI integration through search assistance and a customer service agent that helps Rubi streamline customers’ everyday equipment sourcing and management questions.

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