The words, without the fog.
Every term a business owner runs into when commissioning software, defined in plain English. No jargon used to explain jargon, and no definition that exists to sell you something.
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15 TERMS
AI & Automation
AI Agent
An AI agent is a system that uses a language model to decide which actions to take, then takes them through connected tools: reading a database, sending an email,…
Read the definition →AI Operations Audit
An AI operations audit is a structured review of how a business actually works, ending in a ranked list of tasks worth automating with estimated time saved,…
Read the definition →Chatbot vs AI Agent
A chatbot responds within a conversation: a message arrives, an answer goes back, and the exchange ends there. An AI agent pursues a goal across multiple steps and…
Read the definition →Computer Vision
Computer vision is software that interprets images and video: identifying objects, counting items, reading a gauge, spotting a defect on a production line. A camera…
Read the definition →Fine-Tuning
Fine-tuning is further training of an existing language model on a set of example inputs and outputs, so it adopts a specific style, format or classification…
Read the definition →Guardrails (AI)
Guardrails are the controls that constrain what an AI system may say and do: topic limits, validation of output against an expected structure, blocked actions,…
Read the definition →Hallucination (AI)
A hallucination is output that is fluent, plausible and false: an invented citation, a policy the company never wrote, a confidently wrong figure. It occurs because…
Read the definition →Human-in-the-Loop
Human-in-the-loop is a design pattern where an AI system prepares work and a person approves, edits or rejects it before it takes effect: drafted replies queued for…
Read the definition →Inference Cost
Inference cost is what a business pays each time a model produces an output, billed by most providers per token of input and output, where a token is roughly…
Read the definition →Large Language Model (LLM)
A large language model is a neural network trained on large volumes of text to predict likely continuations, which lets it write, summarise, classify and translate…
Read the definition →Model Context Protocol (MCP)
The Model Context Protocol is an open standard, published by Anthropic in November 2024, that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data…
Read the definition →Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Optical character recognition converts text in images and scans into machine-readable characters, turning a photographed delivery receipt into data a system can…
Read the definition →Prompt Engineering
Prompt engineering is the practice of writing model instructions that produce the required output reliably: stating the role, the task, the constraints, the output…
Read the definition →Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
Retrieval-augmented generation is a technique that searches a private collection of documents for passages relevant to a question, then passes those passages to a…
Read the definition →Workflow Automation
Workflow automation is software that runs a defined sequence of business steps without a person moving data between systems: a submitted form creates a record,…
Read the definition →14 TERMS
E-commerce & Payments (Philippines)
Cart Abandonment
Cart abandonment is a shopper adding items to a basket and leaving before completing payment. A large part of it is mechanical rather than a change of mind: a…
Read the definition →Cash on Delivery (COD)
Cash on delivery is a payment arrangement where the buyer pays the courier at the doorstep and the courier remits the proceeds to the merchant later. It remains the…
Read the definition →Chargeback
A chargeback is a card payment reversed by the cardholder’s issuing bank after a dispute, pulling the funds back from the merchant along with a fee. It is not a…
Read the definition →Direct-to-Consumer (D2C)
Direct-to-consumer is selling straight to the end customer through channels the brand controls, rather than through distributors, retail chains or marketplace…
Read the definition →GCash
GCash is a Philippine mobile wallet operated by G-Xchange, Inc. and licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as an electronic money issuer. For merchants it…
Read the definition →InstaPay vs PESONet
InstaPay and PESONet are the two automated clearing houses under the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ National Retail Payment System. InstaPay clears in real time,…
Read the definition →Marketplace Inventory Sync
Marketplace inventory sync is the practice of keeping one stock figure accurate across every channel a business sells on, its own store plus Shopee, Lazada and…
Read the definition →Maya
Maya is a Philippine digital payments brand covering a consumer wallet and a merchant acceptance business, alongside a Bangko Sentral-licensed digital bank under…
Read the definition →Order Management System (OMS)
An order management system is the software that holds an order from capture to delivery: recording it once, checking stock, routing it to a warehouse or courier,…
Read the definition →Overselling
Overselling is accepting an order for stock that is not actually available, usually because a unit sold on one channel before the other channels were updated. The…
Read the definition →Payment Gateway
A payment gateway is the service that carries a customer’s payment details from a checkout to the institutions that authorise and settle the money — card networks,…
Read the definition →PayMongo
PayMongo is a Philippine payment gateway built around a developer API and hosted checkout, aggregating cards, wallets including GCash, Maya and GrabPay, online…
Read the definition →Warehouse Picking
Warehouse picking is retrieving the items on an order from storage so they can be packed and shipped. It is typically the most labour-intensive step in fulfilment,…
Read the definition →Xendit
Xendit is a Southeast Asian payment infrastructure provider operating in the Philippines and neighbouring markets, offering one API for cards, e-wallets, bank…
Read the definition →11 TERMS
Philippine Business & Compliance
Barangay Business Permit
A barangay business permit, usually called a barangay clearance, is the certification issued by the barangay where a business operates. Under the Local Government…
Read the definition →Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
Business process outsourcing is the practice of contracting a business function, such as customer support, finance and accounting, back-office administration or IT…
Read the definition →Commissioned Work & Copyright Ownership (Philippines)
Under the Philippine Intellectual Property Code (Republic Act 8293), a client who commissions and pays for creative work owns the work itself, but copyright stays…
Read the definition →Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394)
The Consumer Act of the Philippines (Republic Act 7394) is the country’s principal consumer protection law. It covers product quality and safety, labelling and…
Read the definition →Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173)
The Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act 10173) is the Philippine law governing how organisations collect, store, use and share personal information. It applies…
Read the definition →DTI Business Name Registration
DTI business name registration is the Philippine process by which a sole proprietor registers a trade name with the Department of Trade and Industry. It secures the…
Read the definition →E-Commerce Act (RA 8792)
The Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 (Republic Act 8792) is the Philippine law that gives electronic documents, data messages and electronic signatures the same…
Read the definition →Electronic Signature & Digital Signature
An electronic signature is any mark, sound or process in electronic form that identifies a signatory and indicates their approval of a document. Philippine law…
Read the definition →National Privacy Commission (NPC)
The National Privacy Commission is the Philippine government body created by the Data Privacy Act of 2012 to administer and enforce it. It issues implementing…
Read the definition →PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority)
PEZA is the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, the government agency that develops and administers the country’s economic zones and registers the enterprises…
Read the definition →SEC Registration (Philippines)
SEC registration is the process of incorporating with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission. It creates a corporation or partnership as a legal entity…
Read the definition →14 TERMS
Product & Delivery
Discovery Phase
A discovery phase is a short, paid engagement that precedes a build and produces the artefacts a build needs: a written scope, user flows, a technical approach, and…
Read the definition →Fixed-Scope vs Time-and-Materials
Fixed-scope and time-and-materials are the two standard ways to price software work. A fixed-scope engagement quotes one price for a defined deliverable, placing…
Read the definition →Minimum Scalable Product (MSP)
A minimum scalable product is a first release built narrow in features but sound in architecture, so the same codebase carries the product from launch through…
Read the definition →Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
A minimum viable product is the smallest version of a product that delivers real value to a real user and returns evidence about whether the idea works. The test is…
Read the definition →Product Roadmap
A product roadmap is a sequenced plan of what a product will do next and why, grouped by outcome rather than by feature list. A useful roadmap names the problem…
Read the definition →Project Handover
Project handover is the transfer of a finished system and the knowledge needed to run it: production access, hosting and domain accounts, environment variables,…
Read the definition →Prototype
A prototype is a clickable simulation of a product that behaves enough like the real thing to be tested with users, while containing no working back end. Buttons…
Read the definition →Scope Creep
Scope creep is the gradual expansion of a project’s requirements after the scope is agreed, usually through small additions that each seem too minor to renegotiate.…
Read the definition →Software Requirements Specification (SRS)
A software requirements specification is the written document defining what a system must do: functional requirements as testable statements, non-functional…
Read the definition →Sprint
A sprint is a fixed working period, commonly one or two weeks, in which a development team commits to a defined set of work and ends with something demonstrable.…
Read the definition →Staging Environment
A staging environment is a private copy of a live system, running the same code and configuration, used to test changes before they reach customers. Its value…
Read the definition →Technical Debt
Technical debt is the future cost of a shortcut taken now: code that works but is structured for speed rather than for change. Interest is paid in slower delivery,…
Read the definition →User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
User acceptance testing is the stage where the people who will actually use a system verify it against the agreed requirements before launch, working through real…
Read the definition →Wireframe
A wireframe is a low-fidelity layout of a screen showing structure, hierarchy and content placement without colour, typography or imagery. Grey boxes and…
Read the definition →14 TERMS
Search, AEO & AI Visibility
AI Overviews
AI Overviews are Google’s generated summaries shown above the traditional results for many queries, assembled from multiple web sources and displayed with links to…
Read the definition →Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Answer engine optimization is the practice of structuring content so that AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, Google AI Overviews — cite it…
Read the definition →Answer-First Content
Answer-first content resolves the question it poses in its opening lines — typically a 40 to 70 word paragraph containing the direct answer and a specific figure —…
Read the definition →E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust)
E-E-A-T is the framework in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines used to judge content quality: demonstrated first-hand Experience, subject Expertise,…
Read the definition →Entity SEO
Entity SEO is the practice of making a search engine resolve a business, person or product as one distinct thing rather than a set of unconnected mentions. It works…
Read the definition →Featured Snippet
A featured snippet is a block at the top of a search results page that reproduces an extract from one page — a paragraph, list or table — as a direct answer to the…
Read the definition →Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Generative engine optimization is the practice of increasing how often a brand or page is used as a source by generative AI systems. It is frequently used…
Read the definition →Google Business Profile (GBP)
A Google Business Profile is the free listing that determines whether a business appears in Google Maps and the local map results, and what shows in its knowledge…
Read the definition →llms.txt
llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file at a site’s root that offers language models a curated map of its most useful pages, in Markdown, without navigation and…
Read the definition →Local SEO
Local SEO is optimisation for searches with geographic intent — queries naming a city, or carrying implicit "near me" intent. It targets two surfaces: the map…
Read the definition →NAP Consistency
NAP consistency means a business publishes exactly the same name, address and phone number everywhere it appears online — its own site, its business profile,…
Read the definition →robots.txt
robots.txt is a file at a site’s root that tells automated crawlers which paths they may request. It is advisory rather than enforced, applies per user-agent, and…
Read the definition →Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Structured data is machine-readable markup, usually JSON-LD following the schema.org vocabulary, that states explicitly what a page is about: that this string is a…
Read the definition →XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap is a machine-readable list of the URLs a site wants crawled, usually with a last-modified date for each. It helps crawlers discover pages that…
Read the definition →14 TERMS
Web & Software Engineering
API (Application Programming Interface)
An API is a defined way for one piece of software to request data or actions from another: a checkout asking a payment gateway to take a GCash payment, or a…
Read the definition →Content Management System (CMS)
A content management system is software that lets non-technical staff create, edit and publish website content without touching code. WordPress, Shopify and Sanity…
Read the definition →Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are three metrics Google publishes to measure page experience: Largest Contentful Paint (loading, good at 2.5 seconds or under), Interaction to Next…
Read the definition →Custom Software vs Off-the-Shelf Software
Custom software is built for one organisation’s specific process; off-the-shelf software is a finished product many organisations subscribe to, such as Shopify or…
Read the definition →Database
A database is the structured store behind an application: customers, orders, bookings and stock held in a form software can query reliably. Relational databases…
Read the definition →Domain Name
A domain name is the address people type to reach a site, such as blackbyrds.digital, rented from a registrar in yearly terms rather than bought outright. It is…
Read the definition →Headless CMS
A headless CMS stores content without controlling how it is displayed: editors work in an admin interface, and the content is delivered to a website, mobile app or…
Read the definition →Legacy System Migration
Legacy system migration is moving a business off software it has outgrown, such as an unsupported CMS version or a custom application nobody remembers building,…
Read the definition →Progressive Web App (PWA)
A progressive web app is a website that behaves like an installed app: it can be added to a phone’s home screen, work offline through cached files, and receive push…
Read the definition →Responsive Design
Responsive design is a single website built to reshape itself for whatever screen requests it, rather than maintaining a separate mobile site. Layout, type size,…
Read the definition →Server-Side Rendering (SSR) vs Static Site Generation (SSG)
Server-side rendering builds each page when a visitor requests it, so the content reflects the database at that moment. Static site generation builds pages ahead of…
Read the definition →SSL/TLS Certificate
An SSL/TLS certificate is a file installed on a server that encrypts traffic between a browser and a website, turning http:// into https:// and removing the…
Read the definition →Uptime and Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Uptime is the percentage of time a service is available; a service level agreement is the contract stating the target and what happens when it is missed. The…
Read the definition →Web Hosting
Web hosting is the paid service that keeps a website’s files on a server connected to the internet so visitors can load them. Plans range from shared hosting, where…
Read the definition →Still not sure what you need?
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