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OUR HISTORY

CDS GLOBAL TIMELINE

  • Woman making a call on a 1970s business telephone

    1972 - DOWNE COMPUTER SERVICES

    Downe Computer Services opened with 172 employees and one client. The company focused on developing a new fulfillment system, which was completed in June 1982.

    Today, the system is known as the SERV system.

    After the demise of LOOK magazine, Downe Computer Services moved into the 112 10th St building downtown Des Moines.

    LOOK magazine announced that it had ceased publication, and more than 3,500 employees would lose their jobs. Not to be defeated, 30 employees of LOOK magazine decided to open their own company and market the state-of-the-art fulfillment system (fondly remembered as the Batch system)

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  • Employees in a computer room working on their machines

    1975 - WILTON, IOWA

    In September 1971, McCall Information Service Company (MlSCO) moved its business to Wilton. MISCO handled all aspects of the fulfillment business: mail opening, batching, data entry, printing and Lettershop. In 1975, CDS bought out MISCO. Since that time, the Wilton site has expanded its operation with 202,700 square feet of workspace.

    1977 - CHARTER CORPORATION

    The Charter Corporation in Jacksonville, Florida, started buying Downe Communication's stock. This led to the buyout of Downe's stock in 1978, and the changing of the company's name to Charter's Data Services (CDS).

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  • CDS Global employees posing with shovels at a construction site

    1987 - BOONE, IOWA

    The CDS Boone site began in the basement of a home in Stratford, IA with 20 employees processing overflow work from CDS in Des Moines.

    1988 - RED OAK, IOWA

    The CDS Red Oak site opens on August 29, 1988.

    1995 - TIPTON, IOWA

    CDS made the decision to break out First-Class billing and Third-Class renewals for future growth. Based on this decision, CDS opened a site in Tipton in May 1995. The decision to expand there was based on the labor supply.

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    2004 - MARKHAM, ONTARIO

    CDS acquired INDAS Limited, a privately owned Canadian subscription and fulfillment company. The facility located in Markham, Ontario (with a second office in Montreal) serviced a variety of business to business and consumer magazine titles.

  • CDS Global employees working on a piece of printing machinery

    1997 - MARKET HARBOROUGH, ENGLAND

    CDS acquired 100% of the stock in Tower Publishing Services. Tower was England’s leading provider of magazine fulfillment and circulation marketing services. Tower expanded their reach by opening an office in Sydney, Australia.

    1998 - BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA

    Bethlehem site opened. It was the first site solely dedicated to item processing. The Item Processing Group (IPG) in Bethlehem serviced transactions not typically processed by the competition. These included change of address, direct promotions, surveys and much more.

    1999 - PRESCOTT, ARIZONA

    The CDS Prescott site began operating in an 18,300 square ft. building. In its third month of operation, the site processed over 3.7 million pieces of mail.

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  • CDS Global's headquarters building in Des Moines

    2007 - DES MOINES, IOWA

    CDS changes its name to CDS Global and introduces a new company logo.

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    2011 - COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA

    CDS Global acquires technology company PayDQ, a leading provider of electronic payment services.


    2020 - GLOBAL PANDEMIC

    CDS Global employees make considerable sacrifices to keep the business operating successfully and within SLAs during global pandemic.

     

    2022 - 50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

    CDS Global celebrates 50 years of serving clients in grand fashion at a festive affair at the Global Headquarters in Des Moines, with guests who traveled from near and far.

    This was a tribute to all of the dedicated employees who have ever worked with the organization.


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  • 2023 REVITALIZING OUR BRAND

    After 50 years of serving clients in a variety of industries, it was time to revitalize the CDS Global Brand to help take us into our next era of business.

    The three updated pillars that we all work to achieve are: 

    • Make CDS Global the Best Place to Work
    • Become An Irreplaceable Partner to Our Clients
    • Deliver Solutions Our Current and Future Clients Need

    A new visual identity was created to more accurately represent the vitality of the CDS Global organization; deep connections and lifelong bonds with our clients and their customers, and the history and prestige of our parent company. 

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We are the brand behind world-class brands

CDS Global is a premium solutions provider who has been the subscription management and order fulfillment expert since 1972. Your best interests are at the forefront when we are developing and delivering our solutions. We understand your end user’s expectations and the technological challenges you face. Our clients know this to be true, as they have trusted their customer relationships with us for 50 years.

As the subscription management industry changes, we continue to enhance our user interaction solutions to create user friendly interfaces, decrease churn, elevate lifetime value, and increase revenue for our clients.

All of this leads to you having a partner who is confident, humble, candid, and reliable.

Benefits of Partnering with a HEARST owned company
As a subsidiary of Hearst Corporation, one of the world’s largest diversified media organisations and charitable foundations, CDS Global maintains a unique position of financial strength in a challenged industry as a stable and debt free company with the financial strength to continue to invest in solutions that produce client growth and success.

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