Busting the tech jargon

1. Acronym 101

2. You don’t have to be an expert

3. IT Support & Delivery from TSG

This week I caught a story on the radio discussing how doctors are being told to scrap medical terminology in favour of plain English when addressing their patients. This is part of a new initiative to help us average joes understand exactly what they are talking about. I immediately related when I heard this, but not for the most obvious reason. Rather, it made me think about the industry I now spend my working week immersed in and how coming into the world of IT knowing diddly-squat could be likened to diving headfirst into a bowl of alphabet soup.

CRM, ERP, EDMS, BMS, BI… the list of baffling acronyms goes on, and with such a diverse customer base here at TSG, there’s no way we can expect everyone to understand us if we’re speaking in a different language. So, it’s time to bust the jargon and make technology accessible to the masses.

Acronym 101

Here’s a mini acronym dictionary for your future reference, courtesy of my first month’s training at TSG:

ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning

A typical ERP system is made up of different modules for each core process of a business, e.g. HR, finance, manufacturing, procurement and supply chain, all sharing a single database with the ability to talk to one another. Managing your day-to-day business activities using an ERP system creates a seamless network of integrated functions, ultimately streamlining your most important processes and increasing productivity.

CRM – Customer Relationship Management

A CRM system incorporates the solutions and strategies you can use to organise interactions with customers and potential customers. Using a CRM system can help you nurture the relationships that drive your business’ success – keeping up to date with project targets, identifying sales opportunities, recording issues, securely storing key contact information and managing campaigns, all under the same roof.

BMS – Business Management System

This term can be used to encompass both of the above and is the one-stop-shop for all your business needs. Dynamics 365 Business Central is the new kid on the block when it comes to BMSs, bringing together CRM and ERP capabilities into intelligent applications that can be rolled out across your business.

BI – Business Intelligence

BI is a little less self-explanatory than some other tech buzzwords. It’s ultimately all about your data. I like to think of it as a giant magnet, giving you the ability to draw out the needle in the haystack so to speak, when it comes to finding the most useful information for your business. Using dedicated tools such as Power BI or Qlik Sense, you can easily uncover the hidden story behind your data without any need for complex and time-consuming processes. These valuable insights can then be used to effectively inform future decisions contributing to the growth of your business.

DR – Disaster Recovery

This is the key to business continuity and the insurance policy you need to consider. Whether it’s anything from data loss due to a pesky hacker or a full-blown earthquake, any form of disaster that could affect your business is devastating and will stop normal day-to-day operations in their tracks. No business is immune to disasters, but with a proactive DR plan and services in place, you can have the peace of mind that consequences of any future disruption will be minimised.

UTM – Unified Threat Management

UTM us an IT security expression referring to a single security solution performing multiple functions across a network. The aim is to make security simple, allowing you to efficiently control security risks throughout your business operations. At TSG we work with our security services partner, Sophos, to provide industry-leading UTM packages to keep your IT environment safe and secure.

VoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol

You may have seen this more commonly referred to as hosted telephony or an internet telephone system. Unlike traditional phone networks which require office-based hardware and circuit switching, next-generation VoIP systems use cloud-based technologies to create a futureproof and secure system for your business communications. Hosted VoIP solutions have many benefits such as scalability and flexibility, but what you may not know is that they are taking the business world by storm and will soon become a necessity with the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), which traditional phone systems rely on, set to be scrapped come 2025. Find out more in our beginner’s guide to hosted telephony.

EDMS – Electronic Document Management System

An EDMS is basically a virtual filing cabinet for handling the creation, storage and editing of documents. On top of the organisational benefits of systems like SharePoint, there are also many additional features such as encryption and version control that can aid collaboration and regulatory compliance.

GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation

In any industry it’s likely that you’ve come across this one due to the recent deadline for compliance. New General Data Protection Regulations came into force back in May and detail the new rules business must follow to control Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Although the deadline has passed it’s still extremely relevant as failure to comply with GDPR can result in a hefty fine.

You don’t have to be an expert

You may have known all the above already, otherwise, I hope breaking down the jargon has provided you with a little more clarity into the world of IT. But we get it, the technological landscape is ever changing and when it’s not your business, you don’t want to be spending your valuable time and resources keeping up with the things we already know at TSG – we literally eat, sleep and breathe tech so that you don’t have to.

IT Support & Delivery from TSG

Think of TSG as your Fairy Godmother for all things IT. Here’s what we can offer you to help break down the jargon:

• Outsourced IT support from TSG for all your tech – a one-stop shop
• A comprehensive product stack to suit your every need and increase your productivity – we can find the solution that’s best for you.
• Our dedicated experts can be with you from day one, right through to the completion of the project, meaning you have more time to be productive in your business
• With TSG’s SystemCare services you won’t be left in the dark with your shiny new tech. I can’t promise our engineers will show up in a puff of smoke with a magic wand to solve all your problems, but our proactive approach means we can deal with any issues quickly and efficiently. Abracadabra!