IT terms explained simply
The technical terms from our website in plain words. If a term is missing, just ask us.
A
- AI agents
- Programs using artificial intelligence that carry out several steps on their own, for example analysing a problem and preparing a fix.
- AIOps
- Artificial intelligence in IT operations. It analyses alerts and metrics, spots patterns and raises a flag before a small issue turns into an outage.
- Application management
- Ongoing care for software: installing updates, fixing errors, setting up users and making sure everything runs reliably.
B
- Backup
- A safety copy of your data in a second place. If a computer breaks or data is deleted, it can be restored from the backup. It is important to check regularly that restoring actually works.
C
- Cloud
- Computing power and storage in a professional data centre that you use over the internet. A bit like electricity from the socket: you do not need your own power plant in the basement.
D
- DevOps
- A way of working in which software development and operations work closely together. Many steps run automatically, so changes arrive faster and with fewer errors.
E
- E-commerce
- Selling over the internet, for example an online shop or online booking with payment.
F
- FinOps
- Managing and lowering cloud costs. It shows which department or application causes which costs and switches off what nobody needs.
- Firewall
- A doorman for your network. The firewall checks which connections may pass in and out of the internet and blocks anything suspicious.
G
- GDPR
- The EU General Data Protection Regulation. It sets out how personal data (for example of patients, clients or customers) must be stored and protected.
- Generative AI
- Artificial intelligence that creates text, images or program code, for example drafts of documentation or summaries of long texts.
H
- Hybrid cloud
- A mix of your own technology (in the office or in a private cloud) and a public cloud. Sensitive data stays close to you, everything else benefits from large providers.
- Hyperscaler (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- The world's largest cloud providers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). They run data centres on every continent, including Germany.
I
- Identity & Access Management (IAM)
- Managing who may access what. Everyone gets exactly the rights they need. When someone leaves, all their access is revoked in one place.
- Incident management
- The structured process for an outage: record the problem, assess it, fix it and document it so it does not happen again.
M
- Migration
- Moving data and programs to a new system, for example from the old server in the basement to the cloud. When well planned, staff hardly notice.
- Monitoring
- Continuous watching of your systems. If a disk is almost full or a device stops responding, an alert goes out, often before you notice anything yourself.
- Multi-cloud
- Using several cloud providers at the same time. Each task goes to the most suitable provider, and you are not dependent on a single one.
N
- Network
- The connection between your devices and the internet: cables, Wi-Fi, routers and switches. A well-planned network is fast and, for example, keeps guest Wi-Fi separate from the business network.
P
- Phishing
- Fraudulent emails or messages that look genuine, for example from a bank or insurer. They try to get you to enter a password or open a harmful attachment.
- Private cloud
- A cloud used only by your business, for example a dedicated server with a German provider such as Hetzner or IONOS. You get the benefits of the cloud without sharing the hardware.
- Public cloud
- A cloud whose data centres are shared by many customers, kept strictly separate. Well-known providers are AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
R
- Ransomware
- Malicious software that encrypts your data and only releases it for a ransom. The best protection is up-to-date systems, trained staff and a working backup.
- Remote support
- With your permission, a technician views your screen over a secure connection and solves the problem without having to visit.
S
- Security audit
- A security check of your IT, similar to a roadworthiness test for your technology. The result is a list of weak spots and what to do about them.
- SEO and SEA
- SEO (search engine optimisation) helps your website appear high up on Google without paying for ads. SEA (search engine advertising) means paid ads above the search results.
- Server
- A computer that works for other computers, for example to provide files, email or business software. It sits in the office or in a data centre.
- SLA (service level agreement)
- A fixed agreement on how quickly the provider responds to a problem and which services are guaranteed. You know in advance what you can rely on.
T
- Ticketing system
- A kind of digital order book for IT problems. Every request gets a number, nothing gets lost, and you can always see its status.
- Two-factor authentication
- Signing in requires a second proof besides the password, usually a code on your phone. A stolen password alone is no longer enough.
V
- VPN
- An encrypted tunnel through the internet. It lets you work from home or on the road as securely as if you were in the office.
W
- Workplace management
- Central management of all workstations: setting up devices, rolling out software and installing updates, so every workstation is set up the same clean way.