"Firebrand was spun off as a sister company because the market was exploding so quickly that we were finding we were losing opportunities with conflict situations," said EBA group managing director Rick Allen. "We realised six very good years of incremental business that we would not otherwise have enjoyed.
"During 2004, we found the conflict elements just rather dropped away, as companies changed their plans and budgets," he continued. "We decided to reassess things, because Firebrand really had worked in parallel with EBA and they had never competed. After a considerable amount of reflection, we decided to combine the two companies back together."
According to Allen, the net result is that EBA is now a "bigger organisation with better and deeper expertise, more flexibility for clients and better career opportunities". Clients on EBA's roster include Philips Semiconductors, COL, Jardine Office Systems and McAfee.