UK-headquartered mid-market IT services firm, 2e2, has called in the administrators after breaching banking covenants. The news was reported this morning by the beyond excellent (and incredibly well informed) Paul Kunert of The Channel who had originally reported the ‘difficulties’ earlier this month.
There’s much that can be, and undoubtedly will be said about how 2e2 got into such a mess. To put it simply, it forgot what its knitting was (UK infrastructure services) and branched out into new service lines and geographies on the back of a number of ‘bold and courageous’ acquisitions. For me, the ‘boldest’ was that of Morse back in April 2010 (see 2e2 taps into Morse code) over which I raised serious concerns at the time (and indeed since). A year later, management created its first ‘strategic plan’ for the business (see 2e2 makes three) but rather lost its way between the start and end points.
This is a sad outcome for 2e2, its 2,000 employees, its clients, its partners and the UK IT services industry.