Glossary
The 100 words and acronyms you hear every week in tech.
Plain-language definitions of the terms that fly around every board meeting, pitch and vendor call: AI, software, cloud, data, security and SaaS business metrics. Each one with a concrete example and why it matters for the person deciding.
100 terms
- AIAgentic AIAgentic AI is the approach of building AI systems that act autonomously toward goals, planning and executing multi-step tasks with tools.
- SoftwareAgileAgile is an approach to building products in short cycles, delivering working software frequently and adjusting priorities from real feedback.
- AIAI AgentAn AI agent is software built on a language model that pursues a goal by planning steps, using tools such as APIs and databases, and checking its results.
- SoftwareAI Coding AgentAn AI coding agent is an AI system that plans and executes multi-step programming tasks on its own, editing files, running tests and fixing errors.
- AIAI CopilotAn AI copilot is an assistant embedded in the software people already use that drafts, suggests and completes work while the human stays in control.
- AIAI GovernanceAI governance is the set of policies, roles, controls and records a company uses to decide how AI is built, bought, used and monitored responsibly.
- SoftwareAPI (Application Programming Interface)An API (application programming interface) is a defined way for one piece of software to request data or actions from another so systems work together.
- SaaS & businessARR and MRR (Recurring Revenue)ARR (annual recurring revenue) and MRR (monthly recurring revenue) measure the predictable subscription revenue a company earns per year or per month.
- AIArtificial General Intelligence (AGI)Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a hypothetical AI able to learn and perform any intellectual task a human can, rather than one narrow job.
- AIArtificial Intelligence (AI)Artificial intelligence (AI) is software that performs tasks which normally need human judgement, such as understanding language or making decisions.
- SoftwareBackendThe backend is the server-side part of a software product that stores data, applies business rules, handles security and serves the frontend through APIs.
- DataBig DataBig data is data so large, fast-moving or varied that traditional databases cannot store or analyse it efficiently, requiring distributed systems.
- SaaS & businessBurn Rate and RunwayBurn rate is the net cash a company loses per month, and runway is how many months it can survive at that rate before the cash runs out.
- DataBusiness Intelligence (BI)Business intelligence (BI) is the practice and the tools for turning company data into dashboards, reports and analysis that support decisions.
- SaaS & businessCAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)CAC (customer acquisition cost) is the total sales and marketing spend needed to win one new customer: total spend divided by new customers won.
- Cloud & infrastructureCDN (Content Delivery Network)A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a global network of servers that keeps copies of your website close to users so pages load faster and stay online.
- SaaS & businessChurnChurn is the rate at which customers or revenue leave a subscription business over a period; a healthy B2B SaaS keeps annual logo churn near or below 10%.
- SoftwareCI/CD (Continuous Integration and Delivery)CI/CD (continuous integration and continuous delivery) is the automated pipeline that tests every code change and releases it to production safely.
- Cloud & infrastructureCloud ComputingCloud computing is renting computing power, storage and software over the internet from a provider instead of owning and running your own servers.
- AIComputer VisionComputer vision is the field of AI that lets software interpret images and video, recognising objects, faces, text and defects as a person would.
- Cloud & infrastructureContainers (Docker)Containers package an application with everything it needs to run so it behaves identically on any machine; Docker is the tool that made them mainstream.
- AIContext WindowThe context window is the maximum amount of text, measured in tokens, that an AI model can consider at once, including prompt, documents and answer.
- Security & complianceCybersecurityCybersecurity is the practice of protecting a company's systems, networks, data and people from digital attacks, unauthorised access and data loss.
- DataData GovernanceData governance is the set of rules, roles and processes that define who owns company data, what it means, who can access it and how it stays accurate.
- DataData LakeA data lake is a low-cost storage repository that holds raw data of any type in its original format until it is needed for analysis or AI training.
- DataData PipelineA data pipeline is an automated sequence of steps that moves data from where it is created to where it is used, cleaning and transforming it along the way.
- DataData WarehouseA data warehouse is a central database optimised for analysis and reporting, where cleaned data from all business systems is combined for decision making.
- AIDeep LearningDeep learning is a type of machine learning that uses multi-layered neural networks to learn from text, images and audio, powering today's large AI models.
- SoftwareDevOpsDevOps is a way of working that merges software development and IT operations, using automation and shared ownership to ship reliable software quickly.
- Cloud & infrastructureDNS (Domain Name System)DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet's address book: it translates a human-readable domain name into the numeric address of the server that hosts it.
- Cloud & infrastructureEdge ComputingEdge computing is processing data close to where it is created or used, on nearby servers or devices, instead of sending everything to a central cloud.
- AIEmbeddingAn embedding is a list of numbers that represents the meaning of a text, image or product, so similar items sit close together and can be searched.
- Security & complianceEncryptionEncryption is the process of scrambling data with a mathematical key so only someone holding the right key can read it, whether stored or in transit.
- DataETL and ELTETL and ELT are the processes that move data from source systems into a warehouse: extract, transform into a usable shape and load, in either order.
- AIEU AI ActThe EU AI Act is the European Union's regulation on artificial intelligence, imposing risk-based obligations on companies that build or use AI in the EU.
- AIEvals (AI Evaluation)Evals (AI evaluation) are structured tests that measure how well an AI system performs on real tasks, so teams can prove quality before and after changes.
- AIFine-tuningFine-tuning is the process of further training a pre-trained AI model on your own examples so it adopts a specific style, format or specialised behaviour.
- SoftwareFrameworkA framework is a reusable foundation of code and conventions that developers build applications on, so they solve business problems instead of basics.
- SaaS & businessFreemiumFreemium is a pricing model that offers a permanently free version of a product with limits, and charges for premium features, capacity or seats.
- SoftwareFrontendThe frontend is the part of a software product that users see and interact with in a browser or app: screens, buttons, forms and what runs on their device.
- Security & complianceGDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the EU law on how organisations collect, use and protect personal data, with fines up to 4% of turnover.
- AIGenerative AI (GenAI)Generative AI (GenAI) is artificial intelligence that creates new content such as text, images, code, audio or video from a prompt.
- SaaS & businessGEO (Generative Engine Optimization)GEO (generative engine optimization) is the practice of shaping content so AI engines like ChatGPT and Google AI Mode cite and quote it in their answers.
- SoftwareGit (Version Control)Git is the standard version control system that records every change to a codebase, lets developers work in parallel and makes past states recoverable.
- AIGPU (Graphics Processing Unit)A GPU (graphics processing unit) is a chip that runs thousands of calculations in parallel, making it the standard hardware for training and running AI.
- SoftwareGraphQLGraphQL is a query language for APIs that lets an application ask for exactly the data it needs in one request, instead of calling several endpoints.
- AIGuardrailsGuardrails are the rules, filters and checks placed around an AI system to keep its inputs and outputs safe, on topic, compliant and within policy.
- AIHallucinationA hallucination is when an AI model produces fluent, confident information that is false or invented, such as a fake citation or a wrong figure.
- Cloud & infrastructureIaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is renting virtual servers, storage and networking from a cloud provider by the hour instead of buying hardware.
- AIInferenceInference is the moment an already trained AI model is used to produce an answer or prediction, and it is what you pay for every time you call an AI API.
- Cloud & infrastructureKubernetes (K8s)Kubernetes (K8s) is open-source software that runs and manages containers across many machines, handling scaling, failures and updates automatically.
- AILarge Language Model (LLM)A large language model (LLM) is an AI system trained on vast amounts of text to understand and generate language; it powers tools like ChatGPT and Claude.
- Cloud & infrastructureLatencyLatency is the delay between a request and its response, usually measured in milliseconds; it is the technical name for how long users wait.
- SoftwareLow-code and No-codeLow-code and no-code are platforms that let people build software through visual interfaces and configuration instead of writing code by hand.
- SaaS & businessLTV (Customer Lifetime Value)LTV (customer lifetime value) is the total gross profit a company expects to earn from one customer over the whole relationship.
- AIMachine Learning (ML)Machine learning (ML) is a branch of AI where software learns patterns from historical data and uses them to make predictions or decisions on new data.
- SoftwareMicroservicesMicroservices are an architecture that splits an application into small independent services that communicate over a network.
- AIModel Context Protocol (MCP)The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI assistants and agents connect to tools, data and applications through one interface.
- AIModel TrainingModel training is the process of teaching an AI model by showing it large amounts of data and adjusting its parameters until its predictions are accurate.
- Security & complianceMulti-factor Authentication (MFA, 2FA)Multi-factor authentication (MFA or 2FA) requires a second proof of identity beyond a password, such as a phone code or security key.
- Cloud & infrastructureMulti-tenant ArchitectureMulti-tenant architecture is a design where one instance of software serves many customers, each seeing only their own data; it is how most SaaS works.
- AIMultimodal AIMultimodal AI is artificial intelligence that understands and generates more than one type of input, such as text, images, audio and video, in one model.
- SoftwareMVP (Minimum Viable Product)An MVP (minimum viable product) is the smallest version of a product that real customers can use, built to test whether the idea works before investing.
- AINatural Language Processing (NLP)Natural language processing (NLP) is the branch of AI that enables software to read, understand, classify and generate human language in text and speech.
- AINeural NetworkA neural network is a computing system of connected layers of simple units that adjusts millions of internal weights to learn patterns from data.
- DataNoSQLNoSQL is a family of databases that store data in flexible formats such as documents or key-value pairs instead of fixed tables, built for scale and speed.
- SaaS & businessNRR (Net Revenue Retention)NRR (net revenue retention) is the share of recurring revenue kept from existing customers after a year, including upgrades and losses.
- SoftwareOpen SourceOpen source is software whose source code is publicly available to use, study, modify and distribute under a licence; it underpins most modern technology.
- AIOpen-weight ModelsOpen-weight models are AI models whose trained parameters are published so anyone can download, run, inspect and fine-tune them on their own hardware.
- Cloud & infrastructurePaaS (Platform as a Service)PaaS (Platform as a Service) is a cloud service that runs your application code for you, managing the servers, operating system and scaling underneath.
- SaaS & businessProduct-led Growth (PLG)Product-led growth (PLG) is a strategy where the product itself, through free access and self-service, drives acquisition, conversion and expansion.
- SaaS & businessProduct-Market FitProduct-market fit is the point at which a product satisfies strong demand in a defined market, so customers buy, stay and recommend it unprompted.
- AIPrompt EngineeringPrompt engineering is the practice of writing and structuring instructions for an AI model so it reliably produces the output you need.
- AIReasoning ModelA reasoning model is an AI language model trained to think through a problem step by step before answering, trading time and tokens for accuracy.
- AIReinforcement Learning (RL and RLHF)Reinforcement learning (RL) trains an AI by rewarding good outcomes; RLHF uses human feedback as the reward and is how chat models learn to be helpful.
- SoftwareResponsive DesignResponsive design is building a website or app so its layout adapts automatically to any screen size, from a phone to a large monitor.
- SoftwareREST APIA REST API is the most common style of web API, where software reads and changes resources such as customers or orders through standard web addresses.
- AIRetrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is a technique where an AI model first fetches relevant documents from your data, then answers using that evidence.
- Cloud & infrastructureSaaS (Software as a Service)SaaS (Software as a Service) is software delivered over the internet on a subscription, hosted and updated by the vendor rather than installed locally.
- Cloud & infrastructureScalabilityScalability is a system's ability to handle growth in users, data or transactions by adding resources, without a redesign or a collapse in performance.
- SoftwareScrumScrum is the most widely used agile framework, organising work into fixed-length sprints with defined roles, a prioritised backlog and regular reviews.
- SoftwareSDK (Software Development Kit)An SDK (software development kit) is a ready-made package of code, tools and documentation that lets developers integrate a service quickly and correctly.
- SaaS & businessSEO (Search Engine Optimization)SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of improving a website so it ranks higher in search results and earns unpaid traffic.
- Cloud & infrastructureServerlessServerless is a cloud model where you deploy small pieces of code that run only when triggered and you pay per execution, with no servers to manage.
- Security & complianceSingle Sign-On (SSO)Single sign-on (SSO) lets people log in once with one identity and access all their work applications, with access managed centrally by the company.
- Security & complianceSOC 2 and ISO 27001SOC 2 and ISO 27001 are the two leading security certifications a software company obtains to prove to customers that its data controls are audited.
- DataSQLSQL (Structured Query Language) is the standard language for storing, retrieving and analysing data in relational databases, in use for nearly 50 years.
- AISynthetic DataSynthetic data is artificially generated data that mimics the statistical properties of real data, used to train and test AI without exposing real records.
- AISystem PromptA system prompt is the hidden set of instructions that defines how an AI assistant behaves, what it knows about your business and what it must never do.
- SoftwareTechnical DebtTechnical debt is the future cost a company takes on when it ships software quickly with shortcuts that must be fixed later.
- AITokenA token is the basic unit of text an AI language model reads and writes, roughly three quarters of a word in English, and the unit most AI APIs charge by.
- AITool Use (Function Calling)Tool use, also called function calling, is the ability of an AI model to request that an external function or API be run and then use the result.
- AITransformerA transformer is the neural network architecture behind modern large language models; it uses attention to weigh every word against every other word.
- SaaS & businessUnit EconomicsUnit economics is the revenue and cost of a business measured per single unit, such as one customer, showing whether each sale makes money.
- Cloud & infrastructureUptime and SLAUptime is the share of time a service is available; an SLA (Service Level Agreement) is the vendor's contractual promise about it, with penalties.
- SoftwareUX and UIUX (user experience) is how a product feels to use end to end; UI (user interface) is the visual layer of screens, buttons and text people touch.
- AIVector DatabaseA vector database is a system that stores embeddings and finds the items most similar in meaning to a query, enabling semantic search and RAG applications.
- SoftwareVibe CodingVibe coding is building software by describing what you want to an AI in plain language and accepting the generated code without reading it closely.
- SoftwareWebhookA webhook is an automatic message one application sends to another the moment an event happens, such as a payment being completed.
- Security & complianceZero TrustZero trust is a security model that verifies every user and device on every request and grants minimum access, trusting nothing by default.
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