11/08/2011

Today’s Top 4 IT Buzzwords…and What They Really Mean

In a play I saw the other night, I was reminded of the ridiculousness of buzzwords. In the first act, one character laments her Luddite lifestyle, crying, “I don’t even know what DSL is!” In turn, the more plugged-in, tech-savvy character replies, “I don’t know what DSL is either…and I have it.”

I think that pretty much sums it up for much of corporate America. In reality, if your job isn’t specifically related to technology, there’s not much call for understanding the inner workings of the grid. Of course, that doesn’t stop executives outside of the IT realm from tossing around tons of high-tech terminology. It’s not a criticism; we’re all guilty.

I like what Wikipedia has to say about buzzwords, referring to them as, “technical jargon that has begun to see use in the wider society outside of its originally narrow technical context.” The site further explains that, “a buzzword (which often develops from the appropriation of technical jargon) is often used in a more general way.”

Since I tend to straddle both sides of the IT/management divide, I thought I’d take a moment to explain a few of the “appropriated” terms I’ve been hearing my clients bandy about lately. Below, you’ll find links to the real-world, jargon-free definitions that I’ve created for four of today’s top tech buzzwords.

Click on a term below to go straight to that definition.

Saas

Corporate Blogging

Behaviorial Commerce

Device Fingerprinting

SaaS
SaaS, an acronym for “Software as a Service,” refers to any application hosted online, readily accessible through a web browser. With SaaS, your data sits on a provider’s servers and everything is remote (except for your access to it, of course). This is a huge benefit for small businesses that don’t have the resources to support an internal IT department. Since there’s no need to install software internally or maintain anything on your own hard drives or servers, SaaS offers cost savings, ease of use, and accessibility.

Anytime a piece of software doesn’t need to be unique to a particular business (e.g. common applications, like payroll), SaaS probably makes sense. While the code can’t really be changed, the software can often be customized to meet specific needs. The leading customer relationship management program, Salesforce, is an excellent example.

Likewise, supply chain tasks—managed by providers like CVM Solutions—are particularly well suited for SaaS, since most companies need the service and there are relatively few trade secrets involved (for which external security would be an issue). Similarly, companies like Knowledge Tree provide a SaaS solution for document management. Again, it’s a tool that almost all businesses need, but don’t require a proprietary system for.

Corporate Blogging

Unlike public blogs, which typically serve up one person’s opinions in an open forum, corporate blogging is confined to private Intranet sites that are published to support a company’s goals and share information with employees. Corporate blogs tend to address internal challenges, introduce new products, share company news, disseminate policy changes, and promote the exchange of ideas. They may also include training modules and collaboration tools (such as screen sharing and white boards).

Through comments provided by readers (i.e. employees), corporate blogs create an interactive environment and act a bit like a modern-day suggestion box. With an open forum, changes can come from the bottom up, as workers on the “front lines” are given a way to explain how things can be done better/cheaper from their perspectives. Employees at all levels are given a way to communicate with management and, in turn, executives get to enjoy immediate feedback (without the need for formal meetings) that allows for swift solutions—to problems they may never have been made aware of in the past.

Companies like TIBCO Software Inc. provide “workplace communication tools” (such as TIBCO tibbr) that allow employees to follow topics, rather than specific people. These kinds of tools can be particularly useful for geographically spread-out businesses or those that utilize remote workers, flextime, and/or job sharing. As companies slowly embrace the advantages of internal social media and online communities, they are beginning to see meaningful interactions between employees at different levels that result in real-time improvements.

Behavioral Commerce

Big Brother is watching. Well, he’s watching you shop, anyway. After years of tracking consumers’ web browsing behavior and buying patterns, online advertising has become incredibly sophisticated—and precise.

Behavioral commerce utilizes a mountain of data (including page visits and search terms) to tailor each selling opportunity (or advertisement) according to an individual’s history and habits. By honing in on users’ personalities and interests, marketing messages have become more defined and, in turn, more effective at reaching the right consumer, at the right time, in the right place. It’s not enough to know what people like anymore; the real power comes from knowing what they do.

Behavioral commerce was pioneered by SteelHouse, a Los-Angeles based company that continues to be an industry leader in eCommerce, thanks to its patent-pending technology. Interestingly, SteelHouse’s CEO Mark Douglas garnered much of his understanding of human behavior from his experiences as Vice President of Technology for dating powerhouse, eHarmony. Douglas recently explained to blogger John Greathouse, that eHarmony showed him, “how much personality affects everyone’s decisions, from the most mundane to things that are really significant. If you can leverage that, you can improve the result of just about anything that you do.”

Device Fingerprinting

Simply stated, device fingerprinting is all about preventing online fraud. Like behavioral commerce, this security measure analyzes a mountain of data. Whereas behavioral commerce looks at how likely a user is to buy, however, device fingerprinting determines how likely a user is to commit cybercrime.

Companies like BlueCava and iovation provide device identification and device reputation management in order to, according to iovation, alert you to “devices exhibiting high risk behavior while they are interacting with your site.”

Digital fingerprinting is intended to determine the legitimacy of a user before exchanging any sensitive information. So, unless a device is authorized, it isn’t allowed in. For example, it doesn’t matter if a user says she’s “Sarah” and has Sarah’s correct password, unless she’s using Sarah’s laptop, she’s probably not getting in.

Though privacy advocates shun fingerprinting’s exhaustive collection of personal data, many businesses consider it a necessity for protecting their financial and operational assets. To prevent device fingerprinting, browser add-ons (like NoScript for Firefox) are available, but are known to decrease browser speed.

For many small businesses, device fingerprinting may seem overly sophisticated and too expensive to implement. Consider this, though: If a hacker gets into a company’s site and hacks its bank account, that money is not protected. The FDIC does not insure business’ losses due to theft, fraud, or fire—even though they do offer those protections to consumers. Banks expect businesses to have their own security measures in place and to assume full responsibility for security.