‘We are one of the better-kept secrets in Ireland’

Despite his success as the founder of the biggest independent distributor of data storage, networking and IT infrastructure solutions providers in Ireland and Britain, Mayo-born entrepreneur Frank Salmon is not one to seek the limelight.

As the founder and chief executive of CMS Distribution, Salmon heads up an impressive company employing 350 at its Kiltimagh headquarters and 11 further sites in Ireland and overseas.

CMS has international offices in Britain, Europe, Australia, China and the US. The company distributes hardware, software and consumer technologies for more than 100 vendors and manufacturers worldwide.

It has built up an equally impressive client base, selling to more than 3,000 resellers and retail partners globally. “We are probably one of the better-kept secrets in Ireland,” Salmon said.

“We have an amazing team of people working for us and our plan now for the next 12 months is to continue to nurture our people and encourage them to grow.”

Salmon acquired CMS in 1988 from its previous London-based owner, for whom he had worked as an employee.

“The idea for the company initially was fairly random and came about through an engineer I knew,” said Salmon.

“People were having difficulties interchanging data on old-format five-and-a-quarter inch diskettes to the newer three-and-a-half inch diskettes that had come out in 1988.

“We came up with a solution that involved building an external floppy disk drive and cable. People could connect it to their portable laptop computer to exchange the data.”

Initially a small integrator with a growing portfolio of products, CMS moved into distribution in 1991, a move that would stand the fledgling company in good stead.

“We didn’t have enough cash resources to continue the product development, so we transitioned from being a very small systems integrator to becoming a very small distributor,” said Salmon.

Five years after establishing CMS in London, Salmon opened the company’s Kiltimagh base in 1993. “Looking back, I think opening the second location was one of the most significant disruptive changes for the company,” he said.

“Setting up a second office helps you to capture and replicate processes with another team of people.

“It also forces you to empower people and to delegate responsibility and that brings about a different approach to business.”

Salmon cited the 2011 acquisition of CCI Distribution, a British storage distributor based in North Yorkshire, as another key milestone for CMS.

“CCI was our first acquisition and it was another major disruptive change for the business,” he said.

“When you acquire another business, it helps you to understand your own company culture and helps to broaden both your perspective and your approach.”

This perspective has seen the company’s sales continue to grow in the intervening years.

According to its most recent filings, CMS reported revenues of €510 million for the 12 months to the end of December 2017.

The company bought two companies in 2016, acquiring Widget Investment Group, a distributor of emerging technology, based in Britain and the Netherlands, followed by Swedish firm Newgen the following December.

“Creating a culture and company values that embrace change, so change becomes the norm, is very important,” said Salmon.

“We work in the tech industry, so we have to move fast. It is crucial for us that we empower our people to be flexible with our customers, so we remain as agile and responsive as possible.”

This agility is one of the factors that has helped CMS Distribution secure Deloitte Best Managed Companies designation for this first time this year.

“I thought entering the programme would be a good test for our people in terms of how we articulate our business proposition and that it would help us to see how we compare to other companies in Ireland,” said Salmon.

“It’s been a great exercise in holding the mirror up to our business and has certainly helped us to stop and understand why we do certain things.”