Avallach Technology
For those not aware, Avallach is the name I chose for my business (Avallach Technology) and, in line with the way I view the world, it most definitely sets out to be a little different.
The number 1 focus of the business is to cater for “the little guy”, now and into the future. To help illustrate this point, perhaps I should explain that I have spent most of my working life in businesses that start out providing excellent value for other small businesses, but wind up being lured by the “Enterprise Dollar”.
While it may be tempting to go for that “million dollar deal”, a lot of companies then find that the large corporate clients take up all their available time and resources, leading to a rapid deterioration in the service levels provided to the small business clients. Sound crazy to you? Well, I can assure you it DOES happen, and it seems to happen far more often that not.
The difference with Avallach is recognition of the vital importance of small businesses, the need for high quality, affordable services for these businesses, and the significance of making a long-term commitment to those businesses. The fact is that in the wake of the global financial whatsit, small businesses are an increasingly important part of building strong local communities and will continue to do. Besides which, working with small business owners is infinitely more fun than dealing with soul-less corporate types (in my experience anyway).
Beyond this founding principle, Avallach also sets out to be a fun business to be involved with, and to do business with. The personality of the business pretty much reflects my own, so there should be no real surprise that Avallach is so “different”!
I get asked a lot about the name, the pronunciation of the name and the logo, so I’ll try and explain those briefly…
Despite being relatively young, Avallach actually has a heritage going back to about 2001 when I was involved in a joint venture under the name “id64.com”. When I was thinking of a name for the business, I reflected on the fact that while the name “id64″ had a catchy feel to it, it held no value or meaning to me personally. I really wanted a name that reflected the Celtic (Cornish) aspects of my heritage and my personal beliefs.
Avallach is strongly associated with Avalon, is sometimes referred to as “King of the Britons”, and according to Celtic legend had a daughter called Modron (not dissimilar to Madron, a village where many of my Cornish relatives can be found). I actually stumbled on the name, but as I explored the various references in Celtic literature the name quite simply started to feel more and more “right”, so that was that – done deal.
A Google Search will reveal plenty of references and additional information. As for pronunciation, the first part “Avall” is pronounced exactly as the “Aval” of Avalon, the final syllable is pronounced “ack” and not, as some do, “atch”.
The more astute members of the audience will have noticed that the logo is very much a stylised version of the famous Anarchy symbol. A splash of green and the addition of a flare effect and you pretty much have it. I am tempted to say that it represents “Anarchy with flare”, but that’s just a cheesey line that occurred to me quite some time after I created the thing. It also sounds awfully pretentious, which is something neither I nor Avallach sets out to be!
No, the reasons for the logo are quite simple; the first letter of Avallach is ‘A’, the chosen colour for the business is a shade of green (reflecting my nature-based leanings) and I have a lot of sympathy for the notion of anarchy (from the Greek word meaning “without ruler”).
Does all this really add anything to the business? For many people, probably not, but for ME it lays down the core essence of the business I am building, and what it is setting out to achieve. Others may find it all to be of casual/passing interest.
