Storage distributor in milestone achievement
Basingstoke, 5th January 2012: Hammer, the leading name in dedicated storage distribution, has reached a significant landmark in its history, by celebrating 20 years in business.
James Ward, managing director of Hammer, said: “We are thrilled that Hammer is celebrating its 20th anniversary and our most successful year yet, concurrently. The company has come a long way from its modest beginnings to becoming as synonymous with storage as we are today.”
Hammer was founded by Steve Easterbrook and Paul Sangster, with an aim to focus solely on storage and to adding value to customers in the storage market. The company grew annually and, in January 2005, Hammer was the subject of a management buyout by five long-standing senior managers, including James Ward who remains as managing director, and who had previously worked in, and subsequently managed, Hammer’s sales team since 1992. Since then the directors have driven the company's strategic expansion, resulting in a 50% increase in turnover since the takeover seven years ago.
Ward continues: “Hammer now adds more value in the market than ever before. Flexibility for customers’ needs, combined with ultimate focus and knowledge of storage, ensures Hammer’s customers receive support and knowledge tailored to their requirements, and helps them to swiftly adapt to market changes. We take pride in addressing ever-changing business needs unfulfilled by traditional storage offerings, and in being an extension of each business we work with.”
Other companies in the Hammer group are its manufacturing arm, V2, which creates bespoke and off-the-shelf server and storage solutions; Hammer Finance, which helps resellers to secure more business deals through flexible financing; and Malleus, Hammer’s channel-only professional services company, which launched in October 2011. Hammer also has subsidiaries across Europe.
Hammer has succeeded in becoming the market leader completely dedicated to storage, winning a total of 11 ‘Storage Distributor of the Year’ awards since 2004. Each year, Hammer’s event for VARs and integrators, Storage Focus, bridges the gap between manufacturers and customers, with over 20 vendors exhibiting. It is a great way for resellers and integrators to increase their knowledge of market drivers, opportunities, latest technologies and product offerings.
As part of the 20th anniversary celebrations, Hammer is giving away £200/200EUR in 20 daily draws during January. Every order placed will automatically receive an entry into that day’s prize draw. Full details can be found on www.hammerplc.com.
20 ‘Did You Knows’ about Hammer…
1. A quarter of Hammer’s current staff have been with the company for more than half its existence.
- One employee said: “The past 12 years working at Hammer have been the most rewarding years of my career. Everyone feels inspired to do their best, to constantly improve standards, processes, service etc; and working in such a dynamic environment means work feels fresh, challenging and most of all fun. To be honest it doesn’t feel like work. I work with great people and feel lucky to be part of the Hammer ‘family’. I’ve seen lots of change, but things just seem to get better and better, so I’m hoping it continues this way :o).”
- Another said: “It has never felt more exciting or demanding to be in the IT industry than it does right now. Boredom is a word I faintly remember being familiar with some 17 years ago before I joined Hammer. I am lucky to be part of something which has grown so much, despite enduring many pains along the way and witnessing the benefits of all the hard work my colleagues and I have put in.”
2. Hammer has ‘number one’ distributor status with 90% of its vendors for product categories sold.
3. James Ward, Hammer’s managing director, joined Hammer’s sales team 20 years ago, and has worked his way up the ranks until the company buyout in 2005, where he and four colleagues bought Hammer – and all remain directors today.
4. Hammer’s integration centre test facilities can test more than 150 systems simultaneously, a tenfold increase of its previous capacity…
5. …and the centre was refurbished in May 2010 at a cost of £100,000.
6. 2012 will see Hammer host its sixth Storage Focus event, and it continues to grow in popularity each year.
7. Every year, Storage Focus has combined: networking with peers and analysts, seminars from key industry players, information on upcoming storage technologies, and meeting over 20 storage manufacturers, as well as a day of high-adrenaline driving experiences at a renowned race circuit. Previous locations have included Silverstone, Mallory Park, Goodwood, and Thruxton.
8. Contrary to popular belief, Hammer was not named after MC Hammer or his single ‘U Can’t Touch This’ (in which ‘Hammertime’ features)…
9. …although this song is compulsory at every Hammer Christmas party!
10. Hammer is the proud winner of a total of 11 ‘Storage Distributor of the Year’ awards since 2004…
11. …and in 2008, Hammer was the first ever company to win the accolade from the three biggest award vendors in the same year (ACEs, Channel Awards and Storage Awards).
12. Hammer’s network of European offices continues to grow, and it has never been in a better position to provide local knowledge and support to overseas customers, and add value in specific ways to European resellers.
13. All of the customer-facing staff at Hammer have high levels of storage-specific and technical training.
14. Hammer has a high ratio of BDMs (Business Development Managers) to salespeople, offering an outstanding level of dedicated reseller resources.
15. Hammer hosts frequent training sessions, seminars and product demonstration workshops as well as vendor accreditation programmes, enabling resellers to become certified and benefit from better pricing, support and increased marketing support. Moreover, resellers can also utilise Hammer’s facilities to host their own seminars, demonstrations and customer meetings with end users.
16. Many of Hammer’s staff have a keen interest in golf, and the company has a corporate membership at renowned golf course Foxhills – if any customers are interested in a game with us, please feel free to get in contact!
17. Malleus, Hammer’s channel-only professional services company, was launched 3 months ago to increase Hammer’s value-add offering, and the company’s technical staff integrate with each project seamlessly.
18. Hammer is a privately owned company, and this aids its flexibility, innovation and customer consciousness.
19. Hammer’s focus is storage, however its expertise extends beyond the traditional storage boundaries to include such areas as networking, Cloud, and virtualisation, thereby ensuring the best overall solution every time.
20. All of Hammer’s employees would use at least one of the following words to describe themselves: energetic, passionate, motivated, competitive, entrepreneurial, and loyal.
