The business-software glossary
Plain-English definitions for the CRM, telephony, finance, automation, AI and compliance terms you’ll meet across the platform — India-aware, no jargon.
ACD (Automatic Call Distribution)
A telephony system that routes incoming calls to the most appropriate available agent based on rules such as skills, priority, or availability. It helps distribute call volume evenly and reduce customer wait times.
AI Agent
An AI system that can autonomously plan and take multi-step actions toward a goal, often using tools, memory, and external data. Unlike a single prompt-and-response, an agent can loop, decide, and execute tasks on its own.
Attribution
The practice of assigning credit for a sale or conversion to the marketing touchpoints that influenced it. Common models include first-touch, last-touch, and multi-touch attribution.
Audit Trail
A chronological, tamper-evident record of who did what and when within a system. It supports compliance, security investigations, and accountability by preserving a history of user and system actions.
Business Process Automation (BPA)
The use of software to automate repeatable, multi-step business processes such as approvals, onboarding, or order handling. It reduces manual effort, errors, and turnaround time.
Churn
The rate at which customers stop doing business with a company over a given period. Reducing churn is a key goal for subscription and SaaS businesses because retaining customers is cheaper than acquiring new ones.
Click-to-Call
A feature that lets a user place a phone call by clicking a button or link instead of manually dialing. In CRM and telephony systems it connects agents to contacts with a single click and logs the call automatically.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of prospects who complete a desired action, such as becoming a lead or making a purchase, out of the total who had the opportunity. It is a core measure of marketing and sales effectiveness.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Software that centralizes a business's interactions with leads and customers across sales, marketing, and support. It stores contact history, tracks deals, and helps teams manage the customer lifecycle.
Data Residency
The requirement that data be physically stored and processed within a specific country or geographic boundary. It matters for regulatory compliance, such as keeping Indian customer data on servers located in India.
DID (Direct Inward Dialing)
A telephony service that assigns individual phone numbers to users or departments without needing a separate physical line for each. Calls to a DID number are routed directly to the intended destination through a PBX or cloud system.
DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology / TRAI DLT)
In Indian telecom, DLT refers to TRAI's blockchain-based registration platform that businesses must use to register sender IDs, SMS templates, and consent before sending commercial messages. It is designed to curb spam and unregistered promotional traffic.
DPDP Act (Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023)
India's data protection law governing how organizations collect, process, and store the personal data of individuals (Data Principals). It requires lawful consent, purpose limitation, and safeguards, with penalties for non-compliance. Office24by7 is DPDP compliant, with India-only data residency.
Drip Campaign
An automated sequence of pre-written messages sent to prospects or customers over time based on a schedule or triggers. Drip campaigns nurture leads gradually with relevant content until they are ready to convert.
e-Invoicing (IRN)
Under India's GST regime, e-invoicing requires eligible businesses to report B2B invoices to the government's Invoice Registration Portal, which validates them and returns an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) with a signed QR code. Only invoices with a valid IRN are legally recognized.
e-Way Bill
An electronic document required under Indian GST for the movement of goods above a specified value, generated on the government e-way bill portal. It contains details of the consignment, transporter, and route and must accompany the goods in transit.
Encryption
The process of converting data into a coded form so it can only be read by parties with the correct key. It protects information both in transit and at rest against unauthorized access.
FCR (First Contact Resolution)
Share of issues resolved on the first contact, without a callback or transfer. Higher first-contact resolution generally indicates better efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Flow-Cognition Agent (FCA)
Office24by7's AI agent that reads, decides and acts across the platform within your permissions.
Funnel
A model of the stages a prospect passes through from awareness to purchase, typically narrowing as leads drop off. Sales and marketing teams analyze funnel conversion rates to find and fix bottlenecks.
GRN (Goods Receipt Note)
A document created when goods are received from a supplier, recording the quantity and condition against the corresponding purchase order. It is used to verify deliveries before invoices are approved for payment.
GST (Goods and Services Tax)
India's unified indirect tax on the supply of goods and services, levied as CGST, SGST, and IGST depending on whether a transaction is intra-state or inter-state. Registered businesses collect it from customers and file periodic returns.
Hallucination
When an AI model generates information that is plausible-sounding but factually incorrect or fabricated. Techniques like retrieval-augmented generation and grounding are used to reduce hallucinations.
HSN/SAC Code
Standardized classification codes used under Indian GST: HSN (Harmonized System of Nomenclature) for goods and SAC (Services Accounting Code) for services. They determine the applicable tax rate and must be quoted on invoices.
Inbound
Communication or interest initiated by the customer, such as an incoming call, chat, or a lead that arrives through content or referrals. It contrasts with outbound, where the business initiates contact.
IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
An automated telephony system that interacts with callers through voice prompts and keypad or speech input. It routes callers to the right department or self-service option without a live agent.
Knowledge Base
A centralized repository of articles, FAQs, and documentation that customers or AI systems can draw on to answer questions. It powers self-service support and grounds AI assistants in reliable information.
KYC (Know Your Customer)
A verification process by which businesses confirm the identity of their customers, often required by regulation in finance and telecom. It typically involves collecting and validating identity and address documents.
Lead Nurturing
The process of building relationships with prospects through relevant, timely communication until they are ready to buy. It keeps a business top-of-mind for leads that are not yet sales-ready.
Lead Scoring
A method of ranking leads by assigning points based on demographic fit and behavioral signals like email opens or website visits. It helps sales teams prioritize the prospects most likely to convert.
LLM (Large Language Model)
An AI model trained on vast amounts of text to understand and generate human-like language. LLMs power chatbots, summarization, content generation, and other natural-language tasks.
MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)
A security method that requires two or more independent credentials to verify a user's identity, such as a password plus a one-time code. It significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access even if a password is compromised.
MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)
A lead that has shown enough engagement with marketing efforts to be considered more likely to become a customer than a general contact. MQLs are typically nurtured further before being passed to sales.
OBD (Outbound Dialing / Voice Broadcast)
An automated system that places outbound calls to deliver a recorded voice message to many recipients, often for alerts, reminders, or promotions. In India such campaigns must comply with TRAI and DLT regulations.
Omnichannel
An approach that unifies customer interactions across channels such as voice, email, chat, and WhatsApp into a single, consistent experience. Context carries across channels so customers do not have to repeat themselves.
Outbound
Communication initiated by the business toward prospects or customers, such as cold calls, promotional messages, or outreach campaigns. It contrasts with inbound, where the customer makes first contact.
PII (Personally Identifiable Information)
Any data that can identify a specific individual, such as name, phone number, email, or government ID. Handling PII requires safeguards and, under laws like India's DPDP Act, lawful processing and consent.
Pipeline
A visual representation of all active sales opportunities organized by the stages of the sales process. It helps teams forecast revenue and see where deals are progressing or stalling.
PO (Purchase Order)
A formal document a buyer issues to a supplier specifying the products or services, quantities, and agreed prices. It serves as a binding commitment and a reference for delivery and invoicing.
Predictive Dialer
An outbound calling system that automatically dials multiple numbers and connects answered calls to available agents, using algorithms to minimize idle time. It boosts agent productivity in high-volume calling operations.
Prompt
The instruction or input given to an AI model to produce a desired output. Well-crafted prompts guide the model's tone, format, and accuracy, a practice known as prompt engineering.
RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
An AI technique that retrieves relevant information from an external knowledge base and feeds it to a language model to ground its responses. It improves accuracy and reduces hallucination by using up-to-date, domain-specific data.
RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)
A security model that grants users permissions based on their assigned roles rather than individually. It simplifies access management and enforces the principle of least privilege across an organization.
RCS (Rich Communication Services)
Branded, interactive messaging in the phone's default SMS app, with images, buttons and read receipts.
Reconciliation
The process of matching two sets of records, such as bank statements against accounting ledgers or GST returns against invoices, to ensure they agree. It identifies discrepancies, errors, or missing entries for correction.
RPA (Robotic Process Automation)
Software 'bots' that mimic human actions to automate repetitive, rule-based digital tasks like data entry or moving records between systems. It works across existing applications without changing underlying software.
SLA (Service Level Agreement)
A defined commitment on service performance, such as response or resolution time, often enforced through automated tracking and escalation. Breaching an SLA can trigger alerts or penalties.
SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)
A lead that sales has vetted and deemed ready for direct sales engagement, typically having shown clear buying intent. It represents a further stage of readiness than a marketing qualified lead.
SSO (Single Sign-On)
An authentication scheme that lets users access multiple applications with one set of login credentials. It improves user convenience and centralizes access control and security policy.
Sticky Agent
A call-routing feature that connects a returning customer to the same agent they previously spoke with. It provides continuity and a more personalized experience by preserving context across interactions.
TDS (Tax Deducted at Source)
An Indian income tax mechanism where the payer deducts a percentage of tax before making certain payments and deposits it with the government. The deductor issues a certificate, and the deducted amount is credited against the payee's tax liability.
Ticket
A record that tracks a customer request or issue from creation through resolution in a support system. Tickets help teams prioritize, assign, and monitor the progress of each case.
Trigger
An event or condition that automatically starts a workflow or action, such as a new lead, a status change, or a scheduled time. Triggers are the starting point of automated processes.
Upsell
A sales technique of encouraging a customer to buy a higher-value or upgraded version of a product or service. It increases revenue per customer alongside cross-selling of complementary items.
Webhook
An automated message sent from one application to another over HTTP when a specific event occurs. Webhooks enable real-time integration by pushing data to external systems as events happen.
WhatsApp Business API
An interface that lets medium and large businesses send and receive WhatsApp messages at scale through approved software, supporting notifications, customer support, and template-based messaging. Use requires Meta approval and adherence to opt-in and template rules.
Workflow
A defined sequence of steps, rules, and actions that move a task or process from start to finish. Automated workflows execute these steps without manual intervention when conditions are met.
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