Marketing and customer experience

Terms related to business software, including definitions about billing and words and phrases about supply chain, CRM, POS, ERP, accounting, payroll and inventory.

terms of service (ToS) - Terms of service (ToS) is a type of document stating details about what a service provider is responsible for as well as user obligations that must be adhered to for continuation of the service.
test marketing - Test marketing is a method that aims to explore consumer response to a product or marketing campaign by making it available on a limited basis to test markets before a wider release.
tier 1 vendor - A tier 1 vendor is one of the largest and most well known in its field -- often enjoying national or international recognition and acceptance.
TikTok - TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to create, share and discover short-form videos.
ToFu, MoFu and BoFu - ToFu, MoFu and BoFu is a method used by sales and marketing professionals to pace and cater their approach to sales leads within a sales funnel, depending on the customer’s current phase of the purchase decision.
tokenization - Tokenization is the process of replacing sensitive data with unique identification symbols that retain all the essential information about the data without compromising its security.
Top searches of 2008 - What were people searching the WhatIs.
transactional data - In computing, transactional data is the information collected from transactions.
transportation management system (TMS) - A transportation management system (TMS) is specialized software for planning, executing and optimizing the shipment of goods.
Twitter - Twitter is a free social networking site where users broadcast short posts known as tweets.
two-tier ERP - Two-tier ERP is a technology strategy taken by large, multinational enterprises that uses tier 1 ERP for financials and other core common processes at the corporate level and tier 2 ERP for divisions, subsidiaries and smaller locations of the company to address specific needs.
Tyk - Tyk is an open source application program interface (API) gateway management tool.
vanity URL (vanity uniform resource locator) - A vanity URL (vanity uniform resource locator) is a simplified version of a URL that users enter into their browsers in place of the original URL.
vertical market - A vertical market is made up of companies that offer goods and services to meet the needs of customers in a specific industry or niche market.
video marketing - Video marketing is the use of video content to promote a brand, product or service.
virtual appliance - Considered a software equivalent of a hardware device, a virtual appliance (VA) is a preconfigured software solution.
virtual classroom - A virtual classroom is an online learning environment.
virtual desktop - A virtual desktop is a computer operating system that does not run directly on the endpoint hardware from which a user accesses it.
virtual machine escape - A virtual machine escape is an exploit in which an attacker runs code on a VM that lets the operating system (OS) running within it break out and interact directly with the hypervisor.
virtual SAN appliance (VSA) - A virtual SAN appliance (VSA) is a software bundle that allows a storage manager to turn the unused storage capacity in his network's virtual servers into a storage area network (SAN).
voice of the customer (VOC) - Voice of the customer (VOC) is the component of customer experience that focuses on customer needs, wants, expectations and preferences.
Warehouse control system (WCS) - Warehouse control system (WCS) is a software application for orchestrating activity flow within a warehouses and distribution center.
warehouse management system (WMS) - A warehouse management system (WMS) consists of software and processes that allow organizations to control and administer warehouse operations from the time goods or materials enter a warehouse until they move out.
weak tie theory - Weak tie theory is the proposition that acquaintances are likely to be more influential than close friends, particularly in social networks.
web analytics - Web analytics is the process of analyzing the behavior of visitors to a website by tracking, reviewing and reporting the data generated by their use of the site and its components, such as its webpages, images and videos.
web content management system (WCMS) - A web content management system (WCMS) is a type of content management system (CMS) that provides an organization with a way to manage digital information on a website through creating and maintaining content without prior knowledge of web programming or markup languages.
What are buyer personas? - A buyer persona is a composite representation of a specific type of customer in a market segment.
What are virtual agents and how are they being used? - A virtual agent -- sometimes called an intelligent virtual agent (IVA) -- is a software program or cloud service that uses artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to provide automated services or guidance to humans.
What is a 360-degree customer view? - The 360-degree customer view is a comprehensive approach to understanding customers by compiling their individual data from various touchpoints into a single view.
What is a business intelligence dashboard (BI dashboard)? - A business intelligence dashboard, or BI dashboard, is a data visualization and analysis tool that displays on one screen the status of key performance indicators (KPIs) and other important business metrics and data points for an organization, department, team or process.
What is a call center? Everything you need to know - A call center is a centralized department of customer service professionals who handle inbound and outbound calls from current and potential customers.
What is a chief experience officer (CXO)? - A chief experience officer (CXO) is an executive in the C-suite who ensures positive interactions with an organization's customers.
What is a cloud contact center? - A cloud contact center is an internet-hosted service, typically managed by a third party, that handles all inbound and outbound customer communications for an organization.
What is a contact center? - A contact center is a central point from which organizations manage all customer interactions across various channels.
What is a content management system (CMS)? - A content management system (CMS) is a software application that lets users create, edit, collaborate on, publish and store digital content.
What is a customer effort score (CES)? - Customer effort score (CES) is a system for evaluating how much effort is required on the part of a customer to achieve satisfaction in their experience with a company.
What is a customer journey map? - A customer journey map is a visual depiction of the stages customers go through when interacting with a company -- from buying products online to accessing customer service on the phone to airing grievances on social media.
What is a decision support system (DSS)? - A decision support system (DSS) is a computer program used to improve a company's decision-making capabilities.
What is a private cloud? Definition and examples - Private cloud is a type of cloud computing that delivers advantages similar to public cloud, including scalability and self-service, but through a proprietary architecture.
What is a recommendation engine? - A recommendation engine is a system that gives customers recommendations based on their behavior patterns and similarities to people who might have shared preferences.
What is a sales funnel? Everything you need to know - A sales funnel, also called a 'purchase funnel,' is the visual representation of the customer journey, depicting the sales process from awareness to action.
What is a sales pipeline? - A sales pipeline is a visual representation of sales prospects and where they are in the purchasing process.
What is a virtual contact center? - A virtual contact center (VCC) is a type of call center in which an organization's representatives are geographically dispersed, rather than situated at workstations in one location.
What is account mapping, and why do you need it (with template)? - Account mapping is a strategic process that involves researching and visually organizing the key stakeholders, decision-makers and influencers within a target customer's organization.
What is account-based selling? Everything you need to know - Account-based selling (ABS) is a strategic sales approach in business-to-business sales and marketing that centers around building highly personalized and targeted relationships with specific high-value accounts.
What is an inbound call? - An inbound call is typically initiated by a customer to a call center or contact center.
What is an outbound call? - An outbound call is one initiated by a contact center agent to prospective customers and focuses on sales, lead generation, telemarketing and fundraising.
What is BCDR? Business continuity and disaster recovery guide - Business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) are closely related practices that support an organization's ability to remain operational after an adverse event.
What is brand recognition? - Brand recognition is the extent to which a consumer can correctly identify a particular product or service just by viewing the product or service's logo, tagline, packaging or advertising campaign.
What is call management? - Call management is a process in which inbound telephone calls are routed to call center agents.
What is closed loop reporting? - Closed loop reporting (CLR) is a system in which data and information collected by marketing and sales professionals is made available to both teams.
What is cloud computing? Types, examples and benefits - Cloud computing is a general term for the on-demand delivery of hosted computing and IT services over the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing.
What is contact center as a service (CCaaS)? - Contact center as a service (CCaaS) is a framework that combines contact center hosting principles and cloud-based contact center infrastructure.
What is contact center infrastructure? - A contact center infrastructure (CCI) is a framework composed of the physical and virtual resources that a contact or call center facility needs to operate effectively.
What is continuous integration (CI)? - Continuous integration (CI) is a software development practice in which frequent and incremental changes are routinely added (integrated) to the complete codebase immediately after the changes and additions are tested and validated.
What is CPQ software (configure price quote software)? - CPQ (configure, price, quote) is programming that helps sales representatives and self-service customers quickly generate accurate quotes for configurable products and services.
What is CRM (customer relationship management)? - CRM (customer relationship management) is the combination of practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle.
What is customer experience (CX) and why is it important? - Customer experience (CX) is the sum total of customers' perceptions and feelings resulting from interactions with a brand's products and services.
What is customer experience management (CXM)? Ultimate guide - Building brand loyalty among customers involves a customer-centric strategy and measuring feedback through voice of the customer data to improve customer experiences.
What is customer insight (consumer insight)? - Customer insight, or consumer insight, is the understanding and interpretation of customer data, behaviors and feedback into conclusions that can be used to drive actions that improve product development and customer support.
What is customer intelligence (CI) and how does it help business? - Customer intelligence (CI) is the process of collecting and analyzing detailed customer data from internal and external sources to gain insights about customer needs, motivations and behaviors.
What is customer profiling? - Customer profiling is the detailed, systematic process of constructing a clear portrait of a company's ideal customer by gathering and analyzing information about their demographic, psychographic and behavioral attributes.
What is customer segmentation? - Customer segmentation is the practice of dividing a customer base into groups of individuals that have similar characteristics relevant to marketing, such as age, gender, interests and spending habits.
What is customer self-service? - Customer self-service is digital support that lets end users access information and perform routine tasks without requiring the assistance of live agents or representatives.
What is data activation? - Data activation is a marketing approach that uses consumer information and data analytics to help companies gain real-time insight into target audience behavior and plan for future marketing initiatives.
What is data aggregation? - Data aggregation is any process whereby data is gathered and expressed in a summary form.
What is data loss prevention (DLP)? - Data loss prevention (DLP) -- sometimes referred to as 'data leak prevention,' 'information loss prevention' or 'extrusion prevention' -- is a strategy to mitigate threats to critical data.
What is Datadog? - Datadog is a monitoring and analytics tool for information technology (IT) and DevOps teams that can be used to determine performance metrics as well as event monitoring for infrastructure and cloud services.
What is demand planning and why is it important? - Demand planning is the process of forecasting the demand for a product or service so it can be produced and delivered more efficiently and to the satisfaction of customers.
What is demand shaping? - Demand shaping is an operational supply chain management (SCM) strategy where a company uses tactics such as price incentives, cost modifications and product substitutions to entice customers to purchase specific items.
What is deterministic/probabilistic data? - Deterministic and probabilistic are opposing terms that can be used to describe customer data and how it is collected.
What is digital experience (DX)? - Digital experience (DX), also known as 'digital user experience' (UX), is the take-away feeling an end user has after an experience in a digital environment or with a digital technology or device.
What is enterprise content management? Guide to ECM - Enterprise content management is a set of defined processes, strategies and tools that enables a business to obtain, organize, store and deliver critical information to its employees, business stakeholders and customers.
What is Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)? - An enterprise service bus (ESB) is a software platform used to distribute work among connected components of an application.
What is Epicor Software Corp.? - Epicor Software Corp.
What is financial analytics and why is it important? - Financial analytics is the creation of ad hoc analysis to answer specific business questions and forecast possible future financial scenarios.
What is first call resolution (FCR)? - First call resolution (FCR) is when contact center agents properly address a customer's needs the first time they call so there is no need for the customer to follow up with a second call.
What is greenwashing? - Greenwashing refers to the act of making false or misleading claims about the positive environmental impact that a company, product or service has on the environment.
What is high-touch customer service? - High-touch customer service is a category of contact center interaction that requires human interaction.
What is HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of 2009? - The HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of 2009 is legislation that was created to stimulate the adoption of electronic health records (EHR) and the supporting technology in the United States.
What is Hootsuite? - Hootsuite is a social media management platform that helps organizations deliver enhanced social media experiences to their customers at every stage of the customer journey.
What is ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification)? - The International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, also known simply as ICD-9-CM, is the U.
What is Infor? - Infor is a New York-based vendor of ERP and other enterprise business software.
What is interactive voice response (IVR)? - Interactive voice response (IVR) is an automated telephony system that interacts with callers, gathers information and routes calls to the appropriate recipients.
What is inventory management? - Inventory management is the component of supply chain management that tracks and supervises noncapitalized assets -- or inventory -- and stock items.
What is IoT Cloud (Salesforce IoT Cloud)? - IoT Cloud is a Salesforce platform designed to store and process internet of things (IoT) data.
What is lead scoring? - Lead scoring is a methodology sales and marketing departments use to determine the worthiness of leads, or potential customers, by attaching values to them based on their behavior relating to their interest in products or services.
What is lead-to-revenue management (L2RM)? - Lead-to-revenue management (L2RM) is a set of sales and marketing methods focusing on generating revenue throughout the customer life cycle.
What is market segmentation? - Market segmentation is a marketing strategy that uses well-defined criteria to divide a brand's total addressable market share into smaller groups.
What is martech (marketing technology)? - Martech (marketing technology) refers to the integration of software tools, platforms and applications designed to streamline and enhance digital marketing.
What is Microsoft Azure and how does it work? - Microsoft Azure, formerly known as Windows Azure, is Microsoft's public cloud computing platform.
What is mindshare (share of mind)? - Mindshare, also known as share of mind, is an approach to marketing that involves attempting to make a company, brand or product the first one that comes to mind when a customer thinks of a particular market.
What is mobile CRM (mobile customer relationship management)? - Mobile CRM, or mobile customer relationship management, enables those working in the field or remote employees to use mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, to access customer data and customer accounts wherever they are.
What is multichannel marketing? - Multichannel marketing refers to the practice of companies interacting with customers via multiple direct and indirect channels to sell them goods and services.
What is natural language processing (NLP)? - Natural language processing (NLP) is the ability of a computer program to understand human language as it’s spoken and written -- referred to as natural language.
What is nearbound marketing? - Nearbound marketing is a strategy that capitalizes on partnerships, networks and trusted connections to generate demand from higher-quality leads.
What is payroll software? - Payroll software automates the process of paying salaried, hourly and contingent employees.
What is PHI (protected or personal health information)? - Protected health information (PHI), also referred to as 'personal health information,' is the demographic information, medical histories, test and laboratory results, physical and mental health conditions, insurance information and other data that a healthcare professional collects to identify an individual and determine appropriate care.
What is podcasting? - Podcasting is the preparation and distribution of digital audio files to the computers of subscribed users using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds.
What is predictive analytics? An enterprise guide - Predictive analytics is a form of advanced analytics that uses current and historical data to forecast activity, behavior and trends.