No matter what the industry, they all seem to have their own unique, and often unspoken, set of semantics. These include phrases, shortcuts, abbreviations, and acronyms that become commonly used in spoken and written communications, but that can seem like a foreign language to the uninitiated.
When one is first hired into a new field, “learning the lingo” can seem like a nearly insurmountable first step to feeling comfortable with colleagues and producing professional work. A motivated new employee may look for a way to easily educate themselves regarding these terms that are new to them, only to be frustrated with a lack of formal reference tools to help them. An intuitive first step nowadays would be to “google it”, but it is frustrating and time-consuming to look these up on the internet one at a time.
Because of this, we decided to collect a list of the industry acronyms we’ve encountered over the years and post them here.
The following includes an alphabetical listing of acronyms, some of which are general business terms (DBA and PO for example) and some of which are specific to the office technology field (MIF for example).
Dictionary of Industry Acronyms
ACH – automated clearing house (auto withdraw)
AMS – Application management system
AOD – Admin on Demand
API – Application Programming Interface
B2B – business to business
B2C – business to client/customer
BC – bill customer
BI – Business Intelligence
Blob- binary large object
BPA – business process automation
CB – charge back
CEO Juice – this is a company survey company, handles invoices
CFS – Canon financial services
CompEQ – competitive equipment
CPC – cost per copy
CPI – cost per image
CRD – central reprographics department
CRM – Customer Relationship Management (Accelerate is an example)
CSMP – Canon Strategic Marketing Program
CUP – customer upgrade
DBA – doing business as
DCA – data collection agent
DO- dealership owned; also, dollar out (for a lease)
DSO – Days Shipped Outstanding?
e-Automate – a backend accounting system
EBR – executive business review
EDA – electronic design automation
EOD – end of day
EQ – equipment request
ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning
FCO – finance company
FMV – Fair Market Value (for a lease)
GMA – general maintenance agreement (for service)
GP – gross profit
GUI – graphic user interface
HaaS – hardware as a service
HDC – hard drive cleanse
ICP – ideal customer profile
IPDS – intelligent printer data stream
KPI – key performance indicators
LSR – lease return
MIF – machines in field
MFD – multi-function devices
MFP – multi-function printers
MNS – Managed Network Services
MPS – Managed Print Services
MSP – Managed services provider
MSRP – manufacturer’s suggested retail price (list price)
MVP – maximal viable product
NLWC – no longer with the company
NNC – net new customer
NNP – net new placement
OBD – order breakdown
OC – order coordinator
OEM – original equipment manufacturer
OMD – a backend accounting system
PA – price and availability
PO – purchase order
POP – point of purchase
POS – point of sale
PIP – Practice Integration Profile
PSA – professional services automation
PSP – Print Service Providers
RMA – Return merchandise authorization, Term used to return stuff that is broken, usually under warranty!
ROI – return on investment
RFP – request for proposal
SaaS – software as a service
SAO- same address as the office
SD – strategy development
SEO – search engine optimization
SIC – standard industrial classification – in the SalesChain system it is used to classify client customers into different categories
SME – subject matter expert
SPM – service pricing module
SRA – Sales Representative Assignments
SWOT – strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat
TCO – total cost of ownership
TCV – total customer view
TFA – two factor authorization
UI – user interface
VAR – value added retailer
WF – workflow
We plan to continue adding to this list, and to add definitions as we go, so check back on this page periodically for updates!