Medium: moving up the value scale

When Medium UK managing director Ian Sempers bought out his German partners in 2005, the distributor’s business was largely made up of projector sales – and a mostly from a single vendor. Over the last five years, Medium has evolved, targeting technically demanding, added-value activities to alongside its regular, run-rate business. AV News reports on the changes.

f any company exempli- fies the changes that have impacted on the AV channel, it is Medium UK. Five years ago, the distributor was co-owned by the much larger German Medium Gmbh, and at the time 85% of the company’s busi- ness was made up of projector sales – and most of those were Hitachi. The balance was made up of interactive products. While this dependence on

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a single product category and dominant supplier might seem precarious today, at the time it wasn’t all that unusual. Margins, in today’s terms,

seemed generous, although a look back at AV News’ back issues reveals that the debate on dependence on hardware sales was already a subject for discussion. Presented with an opportunity

to take control of Medium UK, it was clear to managing director Ian Sempers that the company needed to diversify, despite the fact that the company enjoyed and continues to enjoy, a good relationship with Hitachi. While projection continues to

be one of the larger elements within the Medium UK busi- ness, the highest growth rates are in flat panel sales, par- ticularly digital signage, and videoconferencing.

Acquisitions

In adding these new areas of growth to the business over the last five years, Sempers has targeted those areas within AV that are acknowledged to be technically challenging. “My goal is to move Medium

up the technical curve,” explains Sempers. “We are capable of supplying techni- cally advanced solutions for those resellers and integrators that need that support.” Perhaps the most public dem-

onstration of this is Medium UK’s acquisition of the Beyondis business established by Kris Davies. This business is in the process of being absorbed into the mainstream of Medium UK, and the Beyondis brand has been dropped. While Sempers accepts the description ‘specialist distribu- tor’, Medium’s growing range of technical capabilities is attracting a broader range of customers. The relationship with LifeSize,

acquired with the Beyondis deal, has, for example, taken the company into the unified communications channel. Sempers says that the process

is one of organic growth through the acquisition of new product sets and their corresponding customer bases. He is very much

in favour of further acquisitions should opportunities arise to add businesses that take Medium UK in the right direction.

Balance

Unlike other distributors that have left their acquisitions as separate entities, Sempers sees an advantage in integrat- ing their activities into the core Medium UK business. In this way there is a seamless rela- tionship with channel partners. In addition, this means that it makes no difference whether they are calling on Medium’s logistical and stockholding strengths to supply a projector, or asking for technical assist- ance with a project. With the business all under

one roof, Sempers believes that it is possible to achieve the right balance between busi- ness activities and even brand dependency.

New relationships

The ongoing relationship with Hitachi, for example, has been supplemented with new rela- tionships with LG, LifeSize and others, achieving balance in the product portfolio. Further balance has been

achieved in the mix of the mature projection and inter-

active business with the high-growth digital signage and video communication streams. Sempers believes that the

potential exists to achieve significant growth in video com- munication for at least another 10 years. He believes that much of this

growth can be achieved through the AV channel, with the appro- priate levels of support: “Selling videoconferencing is not easy, [but] it isn’t the frightening prospect that it once was.” Sempers argues that

environmental and cost factors will push the VC market beyond the corporates and into the SME sector. This sector offers huge poten-

tial, but he adds that: “It isn’t just about ‘selling’ VC. Medium is a technical distributor with the ability to supply and support technical solutions.”

Confidence

It’s true to say that the job of adjusting and maintaining the balance within a business is never done. Medium UK has moved a

long way in five years. While staying true to its origins as a supplier of projectors and AV installation tools, Medium UK has integrated new high growth activities to provide the centres

for growth in the future. In doing this the company has

both achieved Sempers’ ambi- tion of “moving up the technical curve” it has also addressed the issue of adding value. Moving up the value curve is perhaps the most fundamental balanc- ing act of all.

Ian Sempers, managing director, of Medium UK: “My goal is to moves Medium up the technical curve.”

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