--- ticker: CDW company: CDW filing_type: 10-K year_current: 2025 year_prior: 2024 risks_added: 1 risks_removed: 0 risks_modified: 2 risks_unchanged: 27 source: SEC EDGAR url: https://riskdiff.com/cdw/2025-vs-2024/ markdown_url: https://riskdiff.com/cdw/2025-vs-2024/index.md generated: 2026-06-01 --- # CDW: 10-K Risk Factor Changes 2025 vs 2024 > Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) > Generated: 2026-06-01 > All data extracted directly from official filings. No hallucinated content. ## Summary | Status | Count | |--------|-------| | New risks added | 1 | | Risks removed | 0 | | Risks modified | 2 | | Unchanged | 27 | --- ## New in Current Filing: We have outsourced certain business processes to third-party outsource partners and any service failures or disruptions related to these outsourcing arrangements could adversely affect our business. We rely on our outsource partners, including offshore partners, to execute and deliver on certain business processes within the organization. While we make significant effort to conduct appropriate diligence before entering into arrangements with an outsourcing partner, failure by these outsource partners to meet their contractual, regulatory and other obligations to us, including cybersecurity protections, or our failure to adequately monitor their performance, could negatively impact our operations, expected cost savings or efficiencies, and could result in work stoppages, strikes or performance issues with such outsource partners. As a result of these outsourcing arrangements, we may experience interruptions or delays in our processes, loss or theft of proprietary or sensitive data or other cybersecurity issues, compliance issues, challenges in maintaining and reporting financial and operational information, and increased costs to remediate any unanticipated issues that arise, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. --- ## Modified: Issues relating to the use or capabilities of artificial intelligence, including social, ethical and safety issues, in hardware, software and services offerings may result in reputational harm, liability or increased costs. **Key changes:** - Reworded sentence: "Social, ethical and safety issues relating to the use of new and evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence-based technologies, including generative AI in our hardware, software and service offerings, as well as in our internal platforms, may result in reputational harm and liability." - Added sentence: "Further, the responsible development and deployment of AI requires ongoing investment in research, development and governance, which could adversely affect our results of operation or cash flows." **Prior (2024):** Social and ethical issues relating to the use of new and evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence ("AI") in our hardware, software and service offerings, as well as in our internal platforms, may result in reputational harm and liability. The hardware, software and services we offer increasingly utilize AI, and, as with many innovations, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its adoption, and therefore our business. If we use, enable or offer solutions that draw controversy due to their perceived or actual impact on society, we may experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm or legal liability. Increased focus and potential government regulation in the space of AI ethics may also increase the burden and cost of research and development in this area, subjecting us to brand or reputational harm, competitive harm or legal liability. Failure to address AI ethics issues by us or others in our industry could undermine public confidence in AI and slow adoption of AI in our products and services. Additionally, the development, adoption and use for AI is still in its early stages, and ineffective or inadequate AI development or deployment practices by us or our vendor partners could result in unintended consequences. AI technologies are complex and rapidly evolving, and we face significant competition in the market and from other companies regarding such technologies. **Current (2025):** Social, ethical and safety issues relating to the use of new and evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence-based technologies, including generative AI in our hardware, software and service offerings, as well as in our internal platforms, may result in reputational harm and liability. Certain of the hardware, software and services we offer increasingly utilize AI, and, as with many innovations, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its adoption, and therefore our business. If we use, enable or offer solutions that draw controversy due to their perceived or actual impact on society, we may experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm and/or legal liability. Increased focus and potential government regulation of AI may also increase the burden and cost of compliance in this area, subjecting us to brand or reputational harm, competitive harm and/or legal liability. Failure to address AI issues by us or others in our industry could undermine public confidence in AI and slow adoption of AI in our products and services. Additionally, the development, adoption and use of AI by us or our vendor partners could result in unintended consequences, including exposing us to additional risks related to cybersecurity, privacy and data security, such as the risk of increased vulnerability to cybersecurity threats and exposure or theft of proprietary or sensitive information (which could result in such information being made available to our competitors and other members of the public), impacts to the stability of our operations, the generation of factually incorrect or biased outputs, reliance on outdated or unverified data, potential intellectual property infringements, the inability to protect generated content while facing unfavorable licensing terms and the inability to attract and retain key personnel. AI technologies are complex and rapidly evolving, and we face significant competition in the market and from other companies regarding such technologies. Further, the responsible development and deployment of AI requires ongoing investment in research, development and governance, which could adversely affect our results of operation or cash flows. --- ## Modified: Decreases or delays in spending on technology products and services by our customers due to, among other things, customer spending decisions and government spending and funding policies may have an adverse impact on our business. **Key changes:** - Reworded sentence: "Our sales are impacted by customer decisions on budget priorities and technology spending, including decisions to defer any such spending." **Prior (2024):** Our sales are impacted by customer spending decisions on technology, including refresh decisions, customer initiatives that drive technology spending and customer budget priorities. Our sales to our public sector customers, and our other customers that do business with our public sector customers in particular, are impacted by government spending policies, budget priorities 15 15 15 Table of Contents Table of Contents and revenue levels. An adverse change in government spending policies (such as budget cuts or limitations), shifts in budget priorities, reductions in revenue levels or significant government shutdowns could cause our impacted public sector customers or our other customers that do business with impacted public sector customers to reduce or delay their purchases or to terminate or not renew their contracts with us, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations or cash flows. Additionally, such adverse change in government spending policies, shifts in budget priorities or reductions in revenue levels could impact cash collections from contracts with our impacted public sector customers or other customers that do business with impacted public sector customers, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations or cash flows. **Current (2025):** Our sales are impacted by customer decisions on budget priorities and technology spending, including decisions to defer any such spending. Our customer's spending decisions and budget priorities have and can be impacted by government spending and funding policies, especially but not exclusively for our public sector, healthcare and education customers, and our other customers that do business with our public sector customers or otherwise rely directly or indirectly on government funding. Federal government spending policies and budget priorities often shift during a change in federal administration, which has and can create increased levels of uncertainty with respect to these policies and priorities. An adverse change or anticipated change in government spending or funding policies (such as budget cuts or limitations), shifts in budget priorities, reductions in revenue levels or significant government shutdowns could cause our customers to reduce or delay their purchases or to terminate or not renew their contracts with us, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations or cash flows. Additionally, such adverse change in government spending policies, shifts in budget priorities or reductions in revenue levels could impact cash collections from contracts which could adversely affect our business, results of operations or cash flows. --- *Data sourced from SEC EDGAR. Last updated 2026-06-01.*