Thread regarding CDW layoffs

@2w0 Yeah, same here. All that I built was linked to my user Id. When they inactivated it all the AI stopped working. No one knows all the intricacies of what I built so they won't be able to use it. In any event, they will start over from scratch just like I did when I replaced a person that left. Seems like such a waste of time and money over and over again. To me, that just translates to no ROI for AI.

Unpopular opinion on a layoff forum but, I mean, it was optional. You didn't have to join. For those of us looking to grab a few pro tips and have some semblance of community, it was fun for us.

@1kb Same here. But at least they didn't get the tools I built as they launched me out the door.

LOL! I implemented AI and automation into roughly 60% of my job responsibilities and they let me go. I studied and implemented the AI lessons required of me and put them into practice and they still let me go. I could have been a candidate for solutions provider or AI support role but yet they let me go. CDW lost ROI by introducing and trying to implement AI.

@1ee
You'd think with all the Ai and tech we pitch to customers, that we'd utilize the same tech internally.

Guess the days of Zoom and Teams are gone or have they selectively unfreezed the spending and travel. Some people do love to wine and dine.

@OP
Just saw a post on LinkedIn where CDW Financial Services Team in NY spent time at Nasdaq and with partners learning about Ai and selling Ai solutions to customers...

LOL

These sellers can barely sell Adobe Marketplace renewals or CDW standard services.

So much $ being wasted on travel and expenses just to fake Ai to social media.

Where are the white papers of projects showing examples of CDW creating Ai solutions that have benefited customers more than the actual spend/cost of the solution?

Glad my shares are up but time should be spent selling actual things that boost profits quarterly and not trying to " fake it till you make " it with Ai marketing.

It’s really for leadership.They are all thinking that they are AI wizards now!!

You would think a series that had that many sessions would build on itself and being pretty layered / in depth by the end. Instead, they were like "It's fine if this is your first session or your 4th" and "now let's think how our agent can tell us what is on our calendar". Super duper basic.

@15p And the content was common sense. Literally there are youtube videos out there that teach much more in 30-45 minutes than what was taught in those sessions. Ridiculous. AI 101, it was insulting it was so basic.

Was looking forward to these originally. Not sure who ever thought we would have a productive session with hundreds (thousands maybe?) of Coworkers all typing in one chat at once. Not interactive, just two people lecturing to a mass audience on a topic that is all about being hands on and "talking through it". It is the ultimate "check box" where we say we trained everyone on AI without actually caring if anybody learned anything.

@10g

CL loves smoozing with CEO's from other companies. How much did she pay for SF and what's her kickback from Benioff. Now CDW is on the hook for yearly subscription payments and has to keep paying as the prices rise because CL scrapped the in house solution that wasn't beholden to outside entities.

They have the same "backgrounds" by the way. Hmmm

@q6
SF still slows down the whole quoting and ordering process.

How are we paying for advanced tech and going backwards.

Things were quicker 10 years ago. SF is just a info gathering database so higher ups can have more insight into activity but they literally don't even use the info properly...I believe they use this data in decision making that resulted in all the d-mb ideas they've come up with like cutting incentives for selling...like commissions.

Why work harder for less money. Law of dimishing returns. They get what they pay for. You want more performance but want to pay less for it...that's why actual performers that can leave are going to Paragon and elsewhere as they are actually rewarded for the business they bring in and manage.

@OP I attended 1 of them. Was out of office for 3 or 4. After checking out the one I went to I decided not to bother going to the other(s)

@n3 you said "Just have the opps tied to quotes and if there's no order in 3 months...auto close the opp "

I know you said you left, but that is how it works today. If the quote is won, the opp gets won automatically. So, they fixed that part.

I am not really bothered by my Manager wanting a clean pipeline and my deals up to date. To me, that is less busy work and at least focused on what sales does. The PowerPlay stuff though is just smoke and mirrors.

@mz
Plays like a decade ago...that people just clicked on in SPS ans closed so management would get off their backs about fake busy work initiatives some know nothing C level or VP came up with...

Then they recycle that same garbage calling it Power Plays when earnings started to repeatedly miss quarter after quarter.

Why are these dummies still employed let alone in positions where they can throw useless busy work on people.

Like updating and closing opps in SF for reporting. Just have the opps tied to quotes and id there's no order in 3 months...auto close the opp but leave the quote open in case it needs to be brought back and revised.

We have highly paid id--ts running the show giving themselves bonuses.

Best thing I did was quit before everything moved to SF.

Also my last Director literally connected with me maybe 3 times via Teams for maybe a combined 10 total minutes and acted like he knew and valued me. Hope he gets the Russian super plague.

Nice to know this site exists and so many others feel/felt like I do and have the same thoughts on the way things are going.

Well, you nailed most of it...
Part of the CDW Secret Sauce was having our Account Managers be Generalist and build relationships with the customers. We then had ISAs and other Technical resources we could bring in for a conference call or meeting with the customer. Lastly, CDW was an operational machine and could execute and ship from the warehouse or drop ship quickly.
Simple model = (1) Generalist AM that owned relationship, (2) Technical Resources they can bring in as needed, and (3) Operational excellence

Over time, CDW got worried the Generalist model does not scale. They were worried they had to pay a "Specialist" for every topic and still pay the AM too. What they missed was that over time our Sellers generally did learn the topics, they did get more savvy, and some ISA areas became not needed.

Trying to make the Seller the expert on Cloud, Services, and now AI seems to be failing. Instead of admitting that, CDW is now trying to label things we already sell as "AI", throw some trainings are the whole company and then say "look, we are selling AI". Same way we said "look, PowerPlays are driving sales" when they had the Sellers just tag PowerPlays to the quotes and orders already being placed.

@fq
They are trying to fake Ai like they tried to build out a full services offering but didn't enable the AM to Specialist handoff to be quick and easy like it was to set up a call with a ISA.

Also the SOW process is slow as po----g when you have constipation.

Literally not rocket science. We may have some experts that can speak to things but leadership is too d-mb to realize that CDW was successful because of the speed at which AM's could connect customers to the needed expert.... then the AM would become dangerous via listening to the specialists on those conference calls so they could better spot future opportunities feom customers and polish their "sales pitch" to get customer hooked up with our resources.

I could literally consult for a fraction of what CL is wasting on outside consultants that know nothing of the actual inner workings but whatever.... I quit and make money on my own now.

Hope CL and the rest of them get an incurable whatever so the good people left can be rid of the scourge.

When the extent of your AI training is learning how to use an LLM, you are NOT ready to be an industry leader. I was hoping we'd get into how these models are trained, the nuts of bolts of neural networks, literally ANYTHING that positions us to speak with authority on how these things work.

Yes huge waste of money. She is someones friend.

north of 1.1 mil paid to that ladie’s company according to the invoices available in wd