30 Years Connecting Technology To Customers
CMS Distribution is a value-added IT distributor of business and consumer technology products. We are a trade only organisation and create global markets for our 100+ manufacturers selling to corporate resellers, managed service providers, high street and online retailers. These range from large multi-nationals to smaller, independent IT companies.
When I set up CMS Distribution in 1988,
That is why our partners have worked
I wanted it to be the UK and Ireland’s
with us for so long, some for the whole
number one independent storage
30 years of our journey. Fast forward
distributor. Little did I know how far
to today, we are 350 people across 12
our ambition would take us. Starting
sites worldwide with a new ambition;
out manufacturing an external 5¼
to be the world’s number one value-
floppy disk drive, we quickly caught
added tech distributor.
the attention of vendors, resellers and
CMS Distribution specialises in taking emerging technologies to market whilst growing established brands using a range of value added services.
retailers and our journey began.
We thank you - our partners for helping us get to where we are today and look
Always aiming to be more than just
forward to continuing to help grow
a distributor, we added value by
your businesses in the years to come.
seeking out new innovative solutions, spotting new trends and finding new opportunities for our partners.
Frank Salmon, CEO & Founder
Over the years, we’ve gained a reputation for being a trusted advisor and for exceeding expectations.
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From floppy disks to cloud storage and beyond
30 years of innovation Page. 10
Page. 8
CMS in the community
Our people Page. 19
The rise of robotics in education
Page. 22
Page. 24
CMS today
Connecting partners
Page. 14
Page. 28
Financial results Page. 26
Page. 20
Vision and mission Page. 18 6
The evolving IT landscape
Global connections Page. 15
Our awards Page. 30
Our vendors Page. 31 7
From floppy disks to cloud storage and beyond Where did the 30 year journey start and why?
What was CMS like when you started up back in 1988?
What challenges did you face getting up and running?
Frank: “Times were very different in
Frank: “We started as a small system
Frank: “Two main challenges: people
London back in 1988, we were in the
integrator with a big idea which
and money. Recruiting talented
midst of a deep recession, interest
allowed people to transfer data from
people with the right attitude, skills,
rates were 13% and still rising, and
their desktop PCs 5¼-inch floppy
capabilities and diversity is crucial in
at the age of 22, I could only see the
disk to the new portable laptops
a small business. Our next challenge
upside of joining a start-up.”
with 3½-inch floppy disk drive. Our
was proving that our business was
solution was called the Megalink.
sustainable to get investment.”
Following Toshiba’s approval, they started introducing us to their resellers. That was how we began making connections between vendors,
What were the most significant milestones in the early years of CMS?
resellers and end users. Frank: “Survival! We know that more Our second product was an external
than 50% of companies fail in the first
tape back-up device, called the
5 years and that statistic increases
Megasafe, which allowed people to
to 70% by year ten. The first major
back up their laptops. That brought
milestone in our growth story was
CMS more into the data storage
achieving £1million in sales in year
business rather than just focusing on
three. Our next significant milestone
data transfer.”
would come when we transitioned from being a small system integrator to a value-added distributor and signing Colorado Memory Systems
How did you grow your business?
management tools. We’re involved
Frank: “Simply by listening to our
hyperconvergance. On the consumer
Frank: “We want to create sustainable
customers and seeking out innovative
side we expanded our product
success and be the world’s number
technologies that helped our
portfolio to include robotics, wearables
one value-added tech distributor.
customers grow their business. We
and tech accessories, with leading
Operational excellence and profitable
are a trusted advisor that sits between
brands such as GoPro, Fitbit and DJI.”
growth by exceeding expectations
the vendor and the reseller/retailer, we make the connection and help the
How big is CMS now?
Frank: “Initially we focused on the UK
are key to our progress, our culture and our growth. We always need to maintain a growth mindset that
relationship flourish.”
How did you expand into other markets and types of products?
So where do you go from here?
in cloud computing, connectivity and
Frank: “CMS has over 350 employees
evolves and adapts to the times we
working in 12 sites globally.”
live in.”
What do you put your company’s success down to?
and Ireland, then in 2011 we made our first acquisition. In 2016 we started
Frank: “By being more than just a
expanding into mainland Europe,
tech distributor, by adding value to
mainly in the Netherlands and Sweden.
our partners and by focusing
We were now helping partners in both
on excellent service. We
B2B and B2C channels. As well as
continue to invest in
growing organically, we’ve made six
systems and in our
acquisitions that have expanded our
people so that the
technology offering and team.”
service they provide exceeds our customers’
How has CMS’s business offering evolved since 1988?
expectations.”
Frank: “In addition to data backup, we distribute cybersecurity, threat intelligence and network
which would subsequently be acquired by HP.”
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1988 Founded in London by Frank Salmon 1988
2009
The first CMS solution was a 5¼-inch external floppy disk drive
Fitbit launches its
2006
called Megalink
first fitness tracker
Twitter launches
1990 $103,880
2004
average cost of
CMS sales
1GB of RAM
1990
reach £100m+
The world's first ever website goes live
2003 LinkedIn launches
1990
1992
CMS achieves sales of £1m+
SSD module is created by SanDisk, replacing spinning disks with
2003 "In the years I have spent here, my role has evolved
memory chips
from print to digital. Today, most of my time is spent on video and motion. Exciting times!”
1993
1994
Red Hat founded
-Phil Deacon, Graphic Designer
“One of the earliest products I remember CMS
2000 $1,107 average cost of 1GB of RAM
distributing is an external tape drive with 400MB - 800MB capacity. How times have changed!”
1994
-Breege McDonnell, Partner Manager
amazon.com launches
2000 1998
The first USB flash drive is distributed in the UK, by CMS
2000 The Millenium Bug causes fear across the world
Apple launches iMac
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2016
2016 2011 Acquisition of CCI Distribution
2015
2012
Acquisition of
Majority share holder
Widget and Now Mobile
of Newgen Distribution
widget
CMS moves to new flagship office in
“The Amazon team has grown from 2 to 10
London's Tech City: Worship Street
2017
people, supported by dedicated finance and
Acquisition of
warehouse teams. We work with Amazon
TNS Connect
globally but being virtually next door neighbours with the UK HQ, we are at hand with local expertise.”
2017
-Mike Greenwood, Sales Manager
“European growth is a key focus for us, with the aim of replicating the huge success we have had in the UK and Ireland.”
2012 Apple are now selling over 340k phones a day
2013
-Arnaud Bonvarlet, Director European Business Development
Acquisition of Interactive Ideas
2017 NotPetya ransomware costs businesses billions
2014 Logistics Centre of Excellence
2018
opens in Castleford
2013
Storage capacity is now typically measured in
83% of UK homes now
Gigabytes and Terabytes
have internet access
2013 The estimated data stored in
2018
90% of the data in the world was
2018 $20 average cost
generated in the last two years
of 1GB of RAM
the cloud is more than 1 Exabyte
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OurCMS Stats
today
12
Sites in London, Harrogate, Castleford, Dublin, Kiltimagh, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Madrid, Paris, Shenzhen, Colorado and Sydney
100 Vendors
of enterprise software, hardware and consumer technologies
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Warehouses & distribution hubs worldwide
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£500M
Revenue target by year end 2019,
Hubs
2018 revenue £450m
27%
2012 - 2017 CAGR
United States
Australia Sydney
China
350k
Customised deliveries and direct drop services a year
24k
Customised storage solutions
350 & 3,400 Employees
Customers
Shanghai Shenzhen
Czech Republic Strančice
Hong Kong
Netherlands Tilburg Waalwijk
Singapore
UAE
South Korea
Dubai
Italy
Seoul
United Kingdom
Somaglia
Sweden
Castleford Hinkley
Japan
Kalmar
Ichikawa City
Taiwan
United States
Tokyo
New Taipei City
Chino
Our warehouses & hubs 15
“We are the representation for CMS in Scandinavia, working out of our Stockholm office.” - Max Ellberg and Axel Diurson, Co-Founders of Newgen Distribution
“I’m based in Shenzhen, where we focus on the JAPAC region.” - Josie Yang, Head of Operation JAPAC
“I work in the Amsterdam office, from which we serve the Benelux market.”
“I work in the Colorado office, which is where the CMS US sales operations are located.”
- Noelle De Boer, Account Manager
- Bill Lucarelli, Business Director – North America
“I work in our brand-new Dublin office in the vibrant Smithfield area, where we focus on the Irish and International market.”
“I’m based in the French capital and the team here looks after all of our French customers.” - Marc Lecconetable, France Country Manager
Locations “I am located in Australia, where we serve the JAPAC market.” - Alexandra Andrews, Business Director - JAPAC
- Richard Mullen, Purchasing Manager
Flagship
Our locations “CMS Spain is based in Madrid, to look after our Iberian customers.” - Juan Jose Ros Lluch, Regional Manager Iberia
Australia - Sydney
France - Paris
Netherlands - Amsterdam
China - Shenzhen Spain - Madrid
United Kingdom - Castleford, Harrogate & London 16
Ireland - Dublin, Kiltimagh
Sweden - Stockholm United States - Colorado 17
Vision
Mission
The right stuff
We see a future where everyone
Empower remarkable people to
knows that CMS connects the
exceed expectations through the
Our people have
To ensure we continue to provide
As CMS enters its 31st year, we believe
best technologies to the smartest
continual pursuit of service excellence
that our approach to staff training will
customers.
and the delivery of the most innovative
been made of it
excellent service, we go to great lengths to find the best talent and
strengthen our partners’ trust in us.
technologies to our customers.
nurture it.
since 1988
It’s important that our people have the
Our success over the past 30 years is
right skill sets, not just to compete but
down to the commitment, passion and drive of our people. They provide our vendors, resellers and retailers with the best informed advice and help them boost sales.
also to stay ahead of our competitors. Our aim is for every member of our staff to have a personal development plan, and we have invested in in-house learning and development specialists to drive this.
“
We work with our people to create a happy, engaged and sustainable CMS workplace. We do this by finding great people, investing in our people and keeping our people!
”
- Evete Medeiros, Head of People Operations
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CMS in the community
Le Tour de CMS
At CMS we like to get involved with the communities that surround us.
Think you have a long ride to work?
We do this by supporting local charities our staff have chosen – causes close to our hearts. The company matches all donations we raise individually. Last year we have donated over £40,000.
Seven of our staff cycled 641 miles to the five CMS offices around the UK and Ireland, in an event billed as “Le Tour
Here are some of the charities we’ve supported over the past year:
de CMS”. In the UK, all their hard pedalling raised £3,700 for the Brompton Fountain. It is a charity that supports children with serious heart and lung conditions and their families, including our event organiser Steve Yeoland’s son. Then, in the Republic of Ireland, our intrepid peloton pushed themselves further to raise €1,700 for Cycle 4 Haiti, which is working to improve the lives of the Haitian people. Le Tour de CMS comprised of three journeys, completed over three weekends:
Leg 1 London to Castleford 255 Miles
Leg 2
Leg 3
SCT supports people recovering from addiction by
The Junior Entrepreneur Program in London and
Harrogate to Dublin
Dublin to Kiltimagh
helping them to get clean and sober, develop
County Mayo is sponsored by CMS Distribution. The
185 Miles
177 Miles
self-respect and hope for a much better future. Staff
programme encourages primary school pupils to
members have raised £1,910 through cake sales, an
develop entrepreneurial skills. In 2017, over 10,000
abseil, and many other activities.
pupils participated and played their part in creating their very own classroom enterprises.
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Technology rapidly evolved in ’88. Now it’s evolving faster. The emergence of new technologies is constant and is advancing on multiple fronts. Many new technologies genuinely do have the potential to disrupt the status quo, alter the way people live and work and lead to entirely new products and services being developed.
digital transformation to increase
blur, technology that begins life with
within many industries. This shift
consumers often finds its way into
has enabled the emergence of truly
the business world as we strive for
disruptive technologies such as AI,
more convenience. Conversely much
Advanced Robotics, Internet of Things
of the disciplines within business find
and Autonomous Vehicles which are all
themselves back in consumer tech
making their mark on the world.
as we need to tighten up security
The lines between consumer and
and control within ever-increasing
business technologies continue to
connected technology.
“
For 30 years, CMS Distribution has supported vendors with trained staff that keep in step with diverse
The FAA estimates that hobbyist drones will more than triple in number by 2022 whereas commercial drones are expected to grow x10 during that period with industries such as Agriculture and Logistics
With 23 billion connected devices and 3.8 billion internet users, humans have moved ahead of machines as the top target for cyber criminals. This trend will grow as we reach 75 billion connected devices by 2025
It is believed Intelligent Robots would be capable of taking on 40% of jobs currently conducted by humans by 2030
technology trends. Despite the
In recent years a number of developments have converged to accelerate the advancement of technology within the consumer and business space. Increased processing power, storage and the availability of cloud computing coupled with dramatically lower costs has allowed
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rapidly changing face of technology, CMS stands at the forefront of technology distribution and will continue to exceed partner and customer expectations. -Trevor Pluskota , CTO
Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) are the three most in-demand skills on Monster.com
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The rise of robotics in education If the 80/90’s cinematic influence of Hollywood has taught us anything, in 2020, society should be at risk of a robot uprising.
specifically on getting the most from
What teachers and students of this
engineering and mathematics (STEM)
tablet technology in the classroom, were
generation want and need is an
and robotics itself becoming part of
introduced. This has had an impact on
eco-system of lesson-enhancing
the growth and execution of devices in
tech and information. For
secondary curriculum in the UK. These governmental
the classroom. The continued growth Although that technology is coming to
example, whether it’s VR
in sales will be accompanied with the
fruition, we are a long way from the
or Robotics doesn’t
increased amount of EDU-assisting
day when it will be properly utilised.
matter, but how
applications for iOS and Android.
Correctly applying technology is
the product assists
These applications will have step-by-
an issue relatable with introducing
with the curriculum
implementation
step educating, testing, and feedback
innovative hardware into our schooling
needs to be explicit,
of this
tools specifically complementing the
system. How a teacher correctly uses
that’s what the selling
relevant key stage curriculum. Lesson
technology to enhance a students’
point will be.
plans will be drawn up based on
learning experience is a big subject in
Robotics has seen growth
specific applications that utilise tablet
the discussion of modernising schools.
in school adoption in
technology, to enhance the teaching
iPads and tablet devices are a great
the past 24-months. This
and learning experience.
is due to programming and
example of technology that was introduced into schools, but not properly utilised until more recently. Fresher initiatives on teacher training and support, focused
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backed initiatives are the first pillars in putting together the successful
technology into education. Programming, coding and robotics will be key areas to watch as the introduction of hardware
coding sitting in primary and
products, assisting with these subjects,
secondary learning, support
will continue to grow, whilst also
for teacher training on cross-
supporting the further growth of tablet
curriculum involvement, a national
technology in our schools.
agenda towards science, technology,
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Our best financial result for 30 years: 38% growth in turnover
Peer acquisition has been a core component of the CMS growth strategy. We were delighted to welcome TNS Connect into the group in February 2017, who bring more expertise in emerging consumer technologies with an impressive portfolio
The group is in a strong position following a strategic acquisition taking CMS worldwide, and an impressive 38 percent year-on-year growth on revenue to £447m (€510m).
450
of vendors and customers stretching worldwide.
£447m
The acquisition enabled CMS to expand into the
400
Asia Pacific region.
350
We invested in new offices in Paris, Madrid,
£324m
300
Amsterdam and the US, and relocations to new offices in Stockholm and Dublin. CMS’s Centre of
250
Excellence in Kiltimagh, Ireland was also significantly
200
expanded to support all sites globally with first-class
£178m
service.
£173m
150 £133m
100
350
350
0 2013
2014
5 Year Revenue Trend
2015
2016
2017
324
300 250
250 200
193
Our CFO Tom Burke says: “I am very excited about
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the future and the years ahead. 2018 marks another significant milestone in CMS’s history
150
as we celebrate our 30th anniversary with more exciting projects and investments to come.”
100 0 2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Employee Head Count
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SEO
We don’t view marketing as a one-o activity.
Creating new opportunities by connecting our partners
1
Every campaign is connected and part of a never-ending journey and our agile approach provides
ROI
Ps
us with the ability to quickly respond to change and give our partners a competitive advantage.
One of our core value-adds is our award-winning in-house marketing team of 10 specialising in channel and end-user marketing. Through BI driven whitespace identification and customer behaviour analysis we ensure our tailored and creative campaigns get sent to the right audience at the right time. Our marketing platform ensures that leads are nurtured to reduce the sales cycle and increase customer retention, which results in growing the business for our vendors and customers.
In-depth understanding of customers
In-house team of 10 providing
Effective communications
goals, technologies and the market
services from PR to video production
that are relevant and timely
Our Main Services: Content creation Graphic & motion design Video production Digital marketing PR & social media
corporate identity that perfectly embodies our vision and mission goals
Lead Generation
and conveys a modern look and feel across the business. I work closely with our vendors to design and create unique content that
In-store merchandising services
reflects their brief and helps deliver a
PPC services
- Manuela Gandara, Creative Lead
Event management
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“
My Role at CMS is to design our
Content Creation
Strategy
strong ROI.
Analysis
ROI Reporting 29
Some industry recognition
Our vendor partners
7
Channel Programme of the Year
CMS Distribution Webroot Next-Gen Partner Program
30
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