IT DRILLDOWN
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 
 
 
LEADERSHIP
 
CIO Executive Programs
The Leader in Face-to-Face Education for Senior Executives

Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »

 
CIO Executive Council
A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Public Teleconferences
Join CIO Executive Council members and participate in the following live one-hour teleconferences:

* Transforming IT Teams
September 16

* Global CIOs: How to Lead on the World Stage
September 18

* Social Responsibility's Strategic Benefits
October 29

More / Register »

Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »



 
 
RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 
 
 

Buzzwords: Why Doesn't Anyone Speak Plain English Anymore?

Tech speak has infiltrated our business and personal lives—and it's not going away anytime soon.

 

September 24, 2007CIO

Like it or not, buzzwords have invaded the business lexicon and have spilled over into our everyday conversations as well. They have become part of our business communication process. We don't speak plain English anymore, but rather a strange patois that combines English, business speak and tech speak.

It's no surprise that many senior managers and HR professionals worry that employees and job candidates have lost the ability to think for themselves and to find their own words to express themselves. Buzzwords are everywhere in every industry—and technology industries manufacture new ones every year.

Among them:

  • Greenwashing. Used to describe the actions of a company, government or other organization that advertises positive environmental practices while acting in the opposite way. Wikipedia says the term is generally used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices.
  • Smishing. A mobile version of phishing, according to Wikipedia, it's a scam that tries to trick users into handing over confidential details online and installs a Trojan horse.
  • Craplets (also crapware or bloatware). Craplets.org defines craplets as "those little unwanted 3rd-party programs that come installed on your Windows computer when you buy it."

Last year Mobile Enterprise Weblog named "seamless mobility" as the hot new tech buzzterm. What does it mean? The weblog defined it as bridging the worlds of voice and data. "It converges fixed and wireless networks," it added, "and it integrates between the enterprise and the carrier network."

That's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are also dozens of buzzwords created in the corporate world that have infiltrated everyday conversations. A few favorites include:

  • At the end of the day; bottom line; disconnect. When you get right down to bottom-line thinking, at the end of the day, there seems to be a serious disconnect between marketing and sales.
  • Mission critical. We can't lose sight of the fact that next quarter's sales targets are mission critical.
  • Buy in. Let's hope our regional managers buy in to our expansion strategy.
  • Grow; core. Our stockholders expect us to grow our core businesses by at least 25 percent this year.
  • Strategic partners; value proposition; same page. Thankfully our strategic partners are on the same page regarding our value proposition.
  • Proactive. We're going to second-guess the problem by taking a proactive approach.
  • Value-added; no-brainer. We're giving our customers a no-brainer, value-added incentive for buying the improved version of our software.

Then there are the buzzwords that are out of favor and soon to enter the buzzword hall of fame or be buried forever. A few that were popular in the mid- to late 1990s include:

Loading...
 
 
ABCs
 

Just the basics, please. Sometimes we all need a refresher or we need to make sure our team and our colleagues are all on the same page.

Over 25 tutorials on everything from business intelligence to virtualization.

 
 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

How the Mac is Becoming an IT Standard in the Enterprise

Optimizing Infrastructure Control

A Closer Look at SaaS Purchasing Behaviors and Attitudes

How Does Your IT Help Desk Measure Up?

Building Compliance and Security into an Application Delivery Framework

Spam-proof your business with Google's hosted security solutions

Global Crossing is the most viable alternative for voice, video and data

Plan better, manage better

Dell Latitude: Battery life up to 19 hours. Learn more

Video: 21st Century Networking for a 12th Century Castle

Speed, agility, flexibility - The HP BladeSystem c-Class

Secure your virtual and physical environments with the same software

GET YOUR VoIP ONTM! Win 2 Years of Hosted VoIP from Cypress. $100,000 retail value. Enter today!

Getting in Compliance with Government Data Regulations

Solving Online Credit Fraud Using Device Reputation

Destination: Intelligent Data Center Automation

The Benefits of Data Deduplication for Data Protection in the Enterprise

Accelerating ITIL at the Service Desk

Putting Open source to the test

Weigh the trade-offs between outsourcing communications and keeping it on-premise.

Protecting Data in a Highly Networked World

Consolidation: Just the Starting Point for Virtualization

Maximizing Site Visitor Trust Using Extended Validation SSL

Standalone Server vs. Open Source Toolkits

Drive More Effective Business Processes with SOA

New research validates telepresence solutions.

Configuration Assessment: Choosing the Right Solution

How to Calculate the ROI of Remote Support

31 Best Practices for the Service Desk

Extending the Enterprise Network Through Mobility

Compuware.com - See how we make IT rock around the world

CA delivers deeper insight into your assets, resources, projects & services so you can make more informed IT decisions

Discover PMI's credentials and career path tools

SOA Educational Library at the TIBCO SOA Resource Center

TDWI Report shows strong validation for investing in predictive analytics

Learn about the software-based VoIP solution from Microsoft

Microsoft System Center - Designed For Big

The Latest Advancements in SSL Technology

How to Offer the Strongest SSL Encryption

Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI) report: Save Millions in Fraud Losses.

Document Management 2.0 -- Web-based Collaboration and the Road to Compliance

Build up or Tear down? See how UC makes sense with Nortel. Calculate your UC ROI

Virtual Support Technology Delivers Quantifiable Gains in Productivity and Performance

File Integrity Monitoring: Secure Your Virtual & Physical IT Environments

Webcast: Roundtable discusses industry trends for Enterprise Content Management

Stimulating Innovation: Meeting IT's New Mission

The Struggle to Achieve Agility and Reduce Complexity

Storage Efficiency: The Key to Green Storage Operation

Fuel the Responsive Enterprise Through Oracle Fusion Middleware

Balance Your Innovation and Efficiency Platforms for Competitive Advantage and Responsiveness