Aberdeen duo turn redundancy shock into thriving tech business

Press and Journal

22-05-2025

Exactly 10 years ago Aberdeen IT workers Kevin Wyness and Mike Charles turned up to the office only to discover their security passes no longer worked and they'd been locked out of their building.
Deemed 'at risk of redundancy', their lives were put on hold and they spent a month meeting up around the city for coffee and scones – and coming up with a Plan B.
'It was surreal,' says Kevin, 'One moment we were running projects, the next we couldn't even get through the front door. We hadn't even been told, we were just locked out.'
During their meetups the pair plotted their comeback. 'We joked at first – we were basically just moaning about how unfair it was,' Kevin recalls.
When confirmation came they were to be made redundant, Escone Solutions was born – named in honour of those early 'scone and coffee' planning sessions.
Fast forward a decade, and Escone Solutions now employs 17 people and supports major clients across the UK and Ireland.
The company provides specialist business application support, focusing on financial systems like OpenAccounts and eBIS, through its flagship service Escone Assist.
Their clients include ScotRail, DFS, West Midlands Trains, and other national operators.
But Kevin admits the first few months were brutal. 'We were working from back rooms of cafés, chasing leads, scraping together any work we could,' he says. 'By December, we had £29 left in the bank.
'Mike was working nights at Tesco, and I was putting up fences with my brother-in-law. We were literally about to give up.'
But then, an email changed everything. A former colleague offered them a modest contract worth £350 a day between them.
'We dropped everything and took it,' Kevin says. 'It was the turning point and we did a really good job.
'Then, through word-of-mouth, we got some pretty decent contracts and the business just grew.'
Escone Solutions has built a reputation not just for its technical expertise, but for its people-first approach.
'What myself and Mike had said was we would never treat anyone the way we had been treated during our redundancy,' says Kevin. 'We have empathy for people.'
The company blends experienced business analysts with a pipeline of young talent, as an apprenticeship training provider.
'It's quite a young team,' says Kevin. 'We've got 50% graduates and 50% young people who we take on and give an apprenticeship.
'We make sure they follow the apprenticeship, that we get them through as well as learning how to work our way.
'We are really passionate about developing people as well as developing our business.'
One of their early apprentices, Alice Cassie, now holds a senior leadership role as head of consultancy.
Escone has also recently partnered with iplicit, a next-generation financial management system, as part of a strategy to future-proof the business and extend their reach into new markets.
Despite Escone's success, the founding values remain the same: work hard, treat people fairly, and never forget where you started.
'The way we were let go – we said we'd never treat anyone like that,' Kevin reflects.
'We've had no salaries at times, we've worked through every setback. But we stuck with it. And now, we've built something we're really proud of.'