Language Of Technology

Companies speak the language of technology. This guide will help you sort your bits out from your bytes...

CRM: Short for customer relationship management, CRM software helps you keep track of the contact you have had with customers, and can be a useful tool for increasing sales. It can be complicated to set up without the help of a specialist IT company.

e-commerce: Doing business on the internet. A good IT company should be able to supply you with an e-commerce enabled website, which allows visitors to pay for goods and services.

Intranet: A sort of private internet, available only to those working in your company and selected invitees (such as certain customers or suppliers, perhaps.) Most IT companies have their own intranets and can set one up for a customer.

LAN: Short for local area network. When IT companies mention a LAN, they are talking about a system of cables connecting the computers in your office together so they can share information.

Linux: An alternative to Microsoft's Windows operating system. IT companies will tell you that Linux has the advantage that it is free and very reliable, but that it is incompatible with many programs you might want to run.

Open source: A program that is distributed along with the original lines of programming code written by the program's author. An IT company can tailor an open-source program to your specific needs by modifying this code.

Remote support: Many IT companies offer this service, which allows them to connect to your computers from their offices to sort out problems. IT companies that offer remote support don't have to send staff to visit your building, so they can often fix problems faster than IT companies that work on a callout basis.

Server: A computer that acts as a repository for documents, programs and other sorts of computer files. Other computers can retrieve them from the server whenever they need them. An IT company can advise you if you think a server is needed in your company.

VPN: Short for virtual private network, an IT company can set you up with a VPN which allows you to connect a laptop to your office network securely over the internet from a hotel, internet hotspot or your home.