CCS Media smashes £200m barrier

Deputy MD James Hardy on how an enabling culture is driving the reseller's growth

CCS Media has broken through the £200m revenue barrier and has now set its sights on reaching the £250m mark, deputy MD James Hardy has told CRN.

For the year ending 31 December 2018, CCS saw sales rocket 27 per cent to £229m.

"It's fantastic growth and it inspires us," Hardy (pictured) said.

"We're in a business that has gone from £180m to £229m in one year, so you can imagine the rate of new experience that we have had and how we've had to innovate in the business to enable the people to be successful.

"Our focus is on how we help the people in our organisation and if we can do that as individuals and teams, we have earned the right to be successful."

Hardy said CCS' servers, storage and networking unit saw sales growth of 80 per cent, while workplace rose 40 per cent - keeping it as the reseller's largest product group.

He added that a large chunk of the revenue growth is coming from an increase in spend from existing customers, with the revenue generated from existing clients up 28 per cent year on year.

The deputy MD also said that the underlying driver for the higher numbers is an increased focus on developing CCS' culture.

He said that over the last year the reseller has invested an unprecedented amount in upgrading the equipment of all members of staff so they can now work remotely or in one of its 18 offices nationwide.

CCS is also supporting colleagues wanting to enrol in education and training in parallel with employment, ranging from apprenticeships to MBAs, he said.

"Culture, if it is wallpaper and a few fancy words, is meaningless," he said.

"You have to be able to walk into an organisation and feel the culture. It is not a mission statement on the wall that people read now and again. It is how people behave."

Hardy said that CCS is now putting plans in place to take it towards the £500m mark.

"A business that is £250m, although holding the same fundamental principles, has different dynamic to that of a £100m reseller like we were a few years ago," he explained.

"It's the same between a £250m and a £500m business, which is our next long-range goal after achieving £250m.

"It is about investing in the business for where we are going to be in five years' time so we can evolve.

"That is why we have built the academies with the career paths."

While CCS has not ruled out making acquisitions, Hardy said that he and the management team are enjoying building out new units from scratch and making them increasingly strong contributors to the established business.

"We're building start-ups all the time and that is great," he explained.

"Essentially, we spin parts of the business out, learn from what we build and innovate, and then spin it back into the company.

"Then from what we learn we can scale it."