Every sub culture has an enhanced verbiage to more efficiently express thoughts and converse amongst the members of that particular sub culture. Both the business and technology world do have an own vocabulary on their own which is often hard to learn for newcomers especially if they are non-native speakers and possibly have not even heard of the full expression a single time in their life before.
In written communication and increasingly in spoken conversations abbreviations and acronyms get used like they are just normal words and everybody is expected to comprehend the same.
To make things a little easier I have made a quick brainstorming on the most frequently used acronyms and abbreviations in technology and business worlds. I don’t claim for this to be complete and encourage you to drop anything I might have missed in the comment section below with a quick reference link.
Thanks and I hope this will be of value to some of you!
Do yourself a favor and use the search function (ctrl+f) of your browser when you look for something specific. 🙂
| Short | Explanation |
| 3G | Third Generation (telecommunication) |
| 4G | Fourth Generation (telecommunication) |
| AC | Audio Conferencing |
| ACD | Automatic Call Distribution |
| AES | Advanced Encryption Standard |
| AGM | Annual General Meeting |
| AM | Access Management |
| AM | Availability Management |
| AMIS | Availability Management Information System |
| APAC | Asia PACific (region) |
| API | Application Programming Interface |
| AR | Augmented Reality |
| ASAP | As Soon As Possible (deadline) |
| ASP | Application Service Provider |
| AVP | Assistant Vice President |
| B2B | Business To Business |
| B2C | Business To Consumers |
| BAU | Business As Usual |
| BCM | Business Capacity Management |
| BCM | Business Continuity Management |
| BCP | Business Continuity Plan |
| BD | Business Development |
| BI | Business Intelligence |
| BIA | Business Impact Analysis |
| BISL | Business Information Services Library |
| BPM | Business Process Management |
| BPM | Beats Per Minute |
| BPO | Business Process Outsourcing |
| BRM | Business Relationship Manager |
| BSI | British Standards Institution |
| BSM | Business Service Management |
| BYOD | Bring Your Own Device |
| CAB | Change Advisory Board |
| CAB/EC | Change Advisory Board / Emergency Committee |
| CAD | Computer Aided Design / Drawing |
| CAGR | Compound Annual Growth Rate |
| CAPEX | Capital Expenditure |
| CCM | Component Capacity Management |
| CDN | Content Delivery Network |
| CEO | Chief Executive Officer |
| CFCT | Cash Flow Cycle Time |
| CFD | Contract For Difference |
| CFIA | Component Failure Impact Analysis |
| CFO | Chief Finance Officer |
| CI | Configuration Item |
| CIO | Chief Information Officer |
| CM | Change Management |
| CM | Configuration Management |
| CMDB | Configuration Management Database |
| CMIS | Capacity Management Information System |
| CMM | Capability Maturity Model |
| CMMI | Capability Maturity Model Integration |
| CMS | Content Management System |
| CMS | Configuration Management System |
| COB | Close Of Business (deadline for ‘before you call it a day’) |
| COBIT | Control OBjectives for Information Technology |
| COO | Chief Operating Officer |
| COTS | Commercial off the Shelf |
| CPU | Central Processing Unit |
| CPU | Cost Per Unit |
| CRES | Corporate Real Estate Solutions |
| CRM | Customer Relationship Management |
| CSF | Critical Success Factor |
| CSI | Continual Service Improvement |
| CSIP | Continual Service Improvement Programme |
| CSP | Core Service Package |
| CTI | Computer Telephony Integration |
| CTO | Chief Technology Officer |
| CUCM | Cisco Unified Communications Manager |
| D | Director |
| DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol |
| DIKW | Data-to-Information-to-Knowledge-to-Wisdom |
| DIY | Do It Yourself |
| DNS | Domain Name System |
| DR | Disaster Recovery |
| DT | Design Thinking |
| DVD | Digital Versatile Disc |
| EMEA | Europe, Middle East and Africa (region) |
| EOM | End Of Month (deadline) |
| EOW | End Of Week (deadline) |
| EOY | End Of Year (deadline) |
| eSCM-CL | eSourcing Capability Model for Client Organizations |
| eSCM-SP | eSourcing Capability Model for Service Providers |
| ETA | Estimated Time of Arrival |
| FMEA | Failure Modes and Effects Analysis |
| FOC | Free Of Cost |
| FTA | Fault Tree Analysis |
| FYEO | For Your Eyes / Ears Only |
| FYI | For Your Information |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| HID | Human Interface Device |
| HQ | Headquarter |
| HR | Human Resources |
| HRD | Human Resources Development |
| HSDPA | High Speed Downlink Packet Access |
| HTTP(S) | HyperText Transfer Protocol (Secure) |
| ICT | Information and Communications Technology |
| IEEE | Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers |
| IOT | Internet Of Things |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| IPO | Initial Public Offering |
| IPS | Intrusion Prevention System |
| IR | Infra Red |
| IR | Interest Rate |
| IRR | Internal Rate of Return |
| ISG | IT Steering Group |
| ISM | Information Security Management |
| ISMS | Information Security Management System |
| ISO | International Organization for Standardization |
| ISP | Internet Service Provider |
| IT | Information Technology |
| ITIL | Information Technology Infrastructure Library |
| ITSCM | IT Service Continuity Management |
| ITSM | IT Service Management |
| itSMF | IT Service Management Forum |
| ITU-T | International Telecommunications Union |
| IVR | Interactive Voice Response |
| JIS | Just In Sequence |
| JIT | Just In Time |
| KB | Knowledge Base |
| KBA | Knowledge Base Article |
| KCS | Knowledge Centered Support |
| KEDB | Known Error Database |
| KM | Knowledge Management |
| KOP | Key Operating Procedures |
| KPI | Key Performance Indicator |
| KYC | Know Your Customer |
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| LATAM | Latin America (region) |
| LOS | Line of Service |
| MAC | Media Access Control |
| MBA | Master of Business Administration |
| MD | Managing Director |
| MGMT | Management |
| MI | Management Information |
| MOM | Ministry Of Manpower |
| MoR | Management of Risk |
| MTBF | Mean Time Between Failures |
| MTBSI | Mean Time Between Service Incidents |
| MTD | Month To Date (time range) |
| MTRS | Mean Time to Restore Service |
| MTTR | Mean Time to Repair |
| NAC | Network Access Control |
| NAV | Net Asset Value |
| NDA | Non-Disclosure Agreement |
| NFC | Near Field Communication |
| NIC | Network Interface Card |
| NOA | Net Operating Assets |
| NPV | Net Present Value |
| NPV | Net Present Value |
| NTE | Not To Exceed |
| OBASHI | Ownership, Business Process, Application, System, Hardware, Infrastructure |
| OCF | Operating Cash Flow |
| OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer |
| OGC | Office of Government Commerce |
| OIBDA | Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization |
| OLA | Operational Level Agreement |
| OPEX | Operational Expenditure |
| OPSI | Office of Public Sector Information |
| OS | Operating System |
| OTC | Over The Counter |
| P&L | Profit and Loss |
| PA | Personal Assistant |
| PBA | Pattern of Business Activity |
| PC | Personal Computer |
| PFS | Prerequisite for Success |
| PHP | PHP Hypertext Preprocessor |
| PIR | Post Implementation Review |
| PM | Project Management |
| PMI | Project Management Institute |
| PMO | Project Management Office |
| PMP | Project Management Professional |
| PO | Purchase Order |
| POS | Point Of Sale |
| PRINCE | PRojects IN Controlled Environments |
| PSA | Projected Service Availability |
| PUP | Potentially Unwanted Program |
| QA | Quality Assurance |
| QC | Quality Control |
| QMS | Quality Management System |
| QTD | Quarter To Date (time range) |
| R&D | Research and Development |
| RAM | Random Access Memory |
| RC | Remote Control |
| RCA | Root Cause Analysis |
| RFC | Request for Change |
| RFP | Request For Proposal |
| RM | Release Management |
| RMA | Return Merchandise Authorization |
| ROA | Return On Assets |
| ROCE | Return On Capital Employed |
| ROE | Return On Equity |
| ROI | Return on Investment |
| ROIC | Return On Invested Capital |
| RONA | Return On Net Assets |
| ROS | Return On Sales |
| RPG | Role Playing Game |
| RPO | Recovery Point Objective |
| RR | Resource Rent |
| RTO | Recovery Time Objective |
| SaaS | Software As A Service |
| SAC | Service Acceptance Criteria |
| SACM | Service Asset and Configuration Management |
| SAM | Service Availability Management |
| SCD | Supplier and Contract Database |
| SCM | Supply Chain Management |
| SCM | Service Capacity Management |
| SD | Service Design |
| SEO | Search Engine Optimization |
| SERP | Search Engine Results Page |
| SFA | Service Failure Analysis |
| SG | Stage Gate |
| SIP | Session Initiation Protocol |
| SIP | Service Improvement Plan |
| SKMS | Service Knowledge Management System |
| SLA | Service Level Agreement |
| SLM | Service Level Management |
| SLP | Service Level Package |
| SLR | Service Level Recommendation |
| SLR | Service Level Requirement |
| SM | Social Media |
| SME | Subject Matter Expert |
| SME | Small and Medium Enterprises |
| SMM | Social Media Management |
| SMO | Service Maintenance Objective |
| SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol |
| SO | Service Operation |
| SoC | Separation of Concerns |
| SOHO | Small Office / Home Office |
| SOP | Standard Operating Procedures |
| SOR | Statement of requirements |
| SPI | Service Provider Interface |
| SPM | Service Portfolio Management |
| SPO | Service Provisioning Optimization |
| SPOF | Single Point of Failure |
| SS | Service Strategy |
| SS | Six Sigma |
| SSH | Secure SHell |
| SSID | Service Set IDentifier (Wi-Fi) |
| SSL | Secure Sockets Layer |
| SSO | Single Sign On |
| ST | Service Transition |
| TBD | To Be Defined / Discussed |
| TCO | Total Cost of Ownership |
| TCO | Total Cost of Ownership |
| TCU | Total Cost of Utilization |
| TCV | Total Contract Value |
| TM | Time Management |
| TM | Talent Management |
| TO | Technical Observation |
| TOR | Terms of Reference |
| TQM | Total Quality Management |
| UC | Unified Communications |
| UC | Underpinning Contract |
| UP | User Profile |
| USA | United States of America |
| USB | Universal Serial Bus |
| UX | User eXperience |
| VAD | Value-Added Distributor |
| VAR | Value-Added Reseller |
| VAT | Value-Added Tax |
| VBF | Vital Business Function |
| VC | Venture Capital |
| VC | Video Conferencing |
| VHS | Video Home System |
| VLAN | Virtual Local Area Network |
| VM | Virtual Machine |
| VOI | Value on Investment |
| VoIP | Voice over IP |
| VP | Vice President |
| VPN | Virtual Private Network |
| VR | Virtual Reality |
| W3C | World Wide Web Consortium |
| WAN | Wide-Area Network |
| WC | Working Capital |
| WFH | Working From Home |
| WiFi | Synonym for wireless networking |
| WILT | What I Learned Today |
| YOY | Year Over Year (time range) |
| YTD | Year To Date (time range) |
Photo credit: Horia Varlan
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