With the national press obsessing about the trans-European market, the importance of globalisation and M&A at an all-time high in technology markets, it’s easy to forget that some extremely successful businesses have been created in the UK market, and focussed on providing customers and suppliers with very best experiences. Medium has been for 25 years, and celebrates its anniversary this month.
Ian Sempers, founder of Medium UK, has built the business with a mission to: “supply the industry with best of breed product solutions, selection and knowledge, with exceptional customer service….and a smile.”
Ironically, the Medium concept had its origins in founder Ian Sempers’ experience in Germany. Sempers graduated in 1989, wanting to work in Germany and experience life outside the UK. Fortunately, he received an opportune offer of work, via a fellow student, whose father was involved in the AV business:
“David Bussell was the ‘B’ in the UK AV distribution company, GB International. I studied with his son Julian. One day, on the golf course, Julian and I were discussing career opportunities. I mentioned my aspirations to work in Germany. He told me his father had international connections, so I sent him a copy of my CV. He brokered an interview for me with Reinhold Imdahl, the founder of Medium GmbH. I flew over to meet him and decided that buying and selling coco a commodities broker (my original career plan) was a poor second to flying, on my second day, to Scandinavia to meet customers and visit a trade fair.”
“To this day, I wonder if David would have set this up if he had known that I would eventually become one of his chief competitors!”
Early days
Medium Germany was a manufacturer and distributor of AV equipment and at that time best known for high quality OHPs. After a year and a half of successfully developing business in Scandinavia, Benelux and the US, the UK company was formed in August 1991.
Initially working out of a friend’s father’s office, in Milton Keynes, I started selling OHPs, and accessory items, to the trade. Even though setting up a business at the height of the 1991 recession (remember sterling falling out of the old ERM in 1992) wasn’t necessarily the wisest course of action, Medium had developed a unique OHP product range, which provided the basis for the company to establish itself. The Medium 5000 and 10k OHPs had a patented condenser lens design, which managed to concentrate the light from the OHP onto the window of the LCD panel and push up brightness levels considerably.
Sempers continues the story: “Often the simplest ideas are the most effective and this was the case with these two products. I can remember convincing customers, who I had never met before, to switch their entire sales forces to specifying the Medium OHPs, regardless of the brand of LCD panel that they were selling.”
Accelerating growth
In 1993, the company moved to its own offices in Newport Pagnell. This initial growth allowed Medium to build up staffing levels and increase its vendor portfolio. By this time the product set had changed dramatically, away from OHPS, towards digital projection panels – albeit initially at very low light output levels and low resolutions. Some of the most memorable, and perhaps evolutionary, products were the ASK 960, the Proxima DP2800 series and the Pioneer flat panel range.
New arrivals in the Sempers’ Richmond household prompted a relocation of the business to West London. This gave the company access to a large customer base and talent pool, which saw Medium produce sustained growth through the late 1990s and into the early ‘Noughties’.
By this time, Medium UK was very much collaborating with local suppliers, as opposed to purchasing large volumes through Medium in Germany. Equally strong customer relationships had been forged and the company had become independent from its German founders, as well as extremely profitable.
In late 2004, Sempers purchased the entire share capital of the UK business, through his Odysseus Holdings company. The German shareholders realised a multi-million pound return on their initial loan of 10,000 Deutsch Marks (around £3k).
“I could have simply left the UK company and set up as a new, competing venture the next day,” explains Sempers “The most important suppliers and customers would have come with me, but I felt a strong sense of commitment to see things through in the ‘right’ way. After all, they had given me the opportunity, and taken a risk, when I was just out of University’.
From the turn of the new millennium, Medium has seen a number of landmark events. The company benefitted from the BECTA contract and were instrumental in Hitachi developing the ED3200 range (one of the top selling projectors during the BECTA period) in 2005. Revenues climbed in 2006 from £12m to £18m, with virtually no increases in costs. Medium became Hitachi’s largest European distribution partner for many years.
Post-BECTA
When BECTA was disbanded, Medium understood that it needed to look for new product development areas. Digital signage and video conferencing were identified as targets. In 2007, Medium successfully launched, with Samsung, MagicInfo digital signage solutions. The following year, Medium purchased Beyondis Ltd – a distributor of the Lifesize video conferencing range.
The digital signage division has continued to grow from strength-to-strength and now is run by Roy Martin, formerly European Director for Signagelive. VC, on the other hand, is no longer a part of the Medium portfolio. Lifesize took a decision in 2012 to withdraw from AV Distribution in favour of alternative channels.
At this point, Medium was still trading well, and on a profitable basis, but it was clear that other competitors were growing more quickly. The business underwent some significant personnel changes and a new director, Peter Dosanjh, was appointed.
In 2012 the company was awarded exclusive UK and Ireland distribution rights for the C-TOUCH interactive flat panel range, Medium has taken the product range to become one of the most effective and successful brands in this market. Revenues have doubled and PBT has increased in a linear fashion over the past 3 years. The company is now striving to achieve a £50m revenue position within the next 24 months.
Over the last 25 years, Medium has built a that supports over 700 Reseller and retailers in the UK, by proactively marketing, demonstrating and advising on product suitability for installations across multiple industry sectors. Having won multiple Awards for its customer centric approach to sales and support, Medium continually demonstrates growth by extending its portfolio to offer every element for a seamless installation. Medium is currently looking for new freehold premises to maintain this growth and launch new areas of business for the next 25 years.
