Data & AI glossaryThe words of data and AI, explained.

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z

A

• AI agent

  A program that relies on an AI model to carry out a multi-step task in your tools: read a request, look up information, write, then hand over to a person for validation.

  AIAutomationSee: Automation & AI Agents

• API

  An entry point that lets two software tools exchange data automatically. It is what removes exports, copy-paste and re-entry.

  AutomationDataSee: Data & documents

• Automation

  Having a machine run a sequence that comes up often: quotes, reminders, updates between software. With or without AI.

  AutomationSee: Automation & AI Agents

C

• CRM

  The software that tracks your customers and prospects: contacts, conversations, opportunities. A valuable data source, often under-used.

  DataSee: Dashboards & analytics

D

• Dashboard

  A page that brings your indicators together, updated automatically, so you can decide without rebuilding the numbers at every meeting.

  DataSee: Dashboards & analytics

• Data governance

  Who is responsible for which data, which definition is the reference, who has access. Without it, every department keeps its own version of the numbers.

  Governance and securityDataSee: Audit & consulting

• Data sovereignty

  Keeping control over where your data is stored and processed, and which law applies to it. In practice: hosting in France or Europe, and chosen providers.

  Governance and securityDataSee: Technology

E

• ERP

  The management software that holds your orders, stock, invoices and purchasing. The heart of your activity figures.

  DataSee: Dashboards & analytics

• ETL

  Extracting data from your software, transforming it (cleaning, harmonising), then loading it into a single source. It is what makes a dashboard reliable.

  DataAutomationSee: Data & documents

F

• Forecasting model

  A calculation based on your history to estimate what will happen: sales, workload, stock. With 6 to 12 months of data, results are often already useful.

  DataAISee: Forecasting & statistics

G

• GDPR

  The European regulation on personal data. It sets what can be collected, why, for how long, and the rights of the people concerned.

  Governance and securitySee: Audit & consulting

• Generative AI

  Models able to produce text, images or code from an instruction. Useful for writing, summarising, classifying or answering.

  AISee: Training

H

• Hallucination

  A wrong answer given confidently by an AI model. It is limited by having the AI answer from your documents and keeping a human validation step.

  AIGovernance and securitySee: Custom apps & websites

K

• KPI (key indicator)

  A number tracked over time to steer the business: margin, delivery time, conversion rate. Few of them, agreed together, or they are useless.

  DataSee: Dashboards & analytics

L

• LLM (large language model)

  The AI model that understands and writes text, behind assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude or Mistral. It can run with a provider or on your own infrastructure.

  AISee: Training

M

• MCP

  A standard that lets an AI assistant connect to your tools (email, CRM, files) in a controlled way, so it can act and not just answer.

  AIAutomationSee: Automation & AI Agents

N

• n8n

  A tool that automatically chains tasks between your software: receive, sort, pass on.

  AutomationSee: Automation & AI Agents

O

• OCR

  Automatic reading of the text in a scanned or photographed document, to pick out the useful information.

  AutomationDataSee: Automation & AI Agents

P

• Prototype

  A first version running on your real data, built in a few days, so you decide whether to go further on facts rather than slides.

  AIGovernance and securitySee: Audit & consulting

R

• RAG

  A way of having an AI answer from your own documents: it first finds the relevant passages, then writes its answer based on them.

  AISee: Custom apps & websites

U

• Use case

  A specific task, with a measurable gain, where data or AI is applied. You pick a few, starting with those that pay back the most.

  AIGovernance and securitySee: Audit & consulting

W

• Web scraping

  A program that reads web pages and puts the useful information into a table or into your tools.

  DataAutomationSee: Data & documents

• Workflow

  An automated sequence of steps: a trigger (an email arrives), some processing, then an action (the file is updated, the right person is notified).

  AutomationSee: Automation & AI Agents