List of business terms

For abbreviations, see List of business and finance abbreviations.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

The following terms are in everyday use in financial regions, such as commercial business and the management of large organisations such as corporations.

Noun phrases

Noun phrase	Definition
30,000 foot view	Program management view
50,000 foot view	Highest management overview
Bandwidth	Availability[1]
Benchmark	Measuring against
Best practice	Tried and tested methodology/process
Blue sky thinking	Idealistic or visionary ideas, not always with practical application (source: BBC)
Bottleneck	Where a process is held up
Cascade	Array of possible actions to take in response to a problem: protocol
Check in the box	Complete the task
Cross-functional	Works in multiple directions simultaneously
Customer-centric	The customer is the main focus
Cutting edge practices	Up to date or new methods
Dashboard	Collection of key indicators
Data Moat	Large amounts of data acquired by an organization that can be harvested for sustainable, differentiating competitive advantage.[2]
Deliverable(s)	Finished product or outcome
Downsize	Reduce the number of employees through a lay-off
End-user perspective	Point of view of a customer about a product or service
Evergreen	Content that is always relevant[1]
Flavour of the month	The current popular or trending activity
Golden handshake	Contract clause which richly rewards a key employee in the case of termination
Golden parachute	Contract clause richly (perhaps excessively) rewarding a key executive if termination is due to corporate takeover or merger
Hard stop	Deadline[1]
Hub	A central idea to which other ideas are linked
In the loop	Knowing what's going on and being kept informed
In the weeds	Immersed or entangled in details or complexities
Joined-up thinking	Discussing the viewpoints of each organization and coming to an agreement or compromise
Low-hanging fruit	Tasks that have the greatest positive effect for the least effort, used when promoting new projects to show the advantages.[1]
Lay-off	Redundancies on a large scale
Learnings	Acquired knowledge after an action/actions or process/processes has been completed
Nesting	Processes within processes
Off the shelf	Buying in a product or service that is already completed
One button to push/Push of a button	Reduced number of suppliers
Operational excellence	Sustainable improvement of key performance metrics
Python	Challenging problem[1]
Raft of measures	A collection of proposals or schemes
Rattler	Obvious problem[1]
Run it up the flagpole	Test the popularity of a new idea or proposal. [3]
Scalability	A small component's ability to grow within a larger system[1]
Silo (Vertical and Horizontal)	A system, process, department, etc. that operates in isolation from others.
Silver bullet	One solution for everything[dubious – discuss]
Six Sigma	A system for process improvement by error reduction
Stakeholders	Group or individual affected by the outcome of a decision
Talent	Employees
Tent pole	The task or item most likely to delay a project or consume the most resources
Under-pinning	The foundations of an idea, which helps another related scheme or proposal
Unique selling proposition (USP)	Any aspect of an object that differentiates it from similar objects
Win-win solution	Providing a product or service which makes everyone happy, particularly both buyer and seller

Verb phrases

Verb phrase	Definition
Action that	Put something into practice[1]
Baked in	Something which has been "baked in" is implied to be impossible to remove. Alternatively, "baked in" can refer to a desirable, although non-essential, property of a product being incorporated for the user's convenience.
Boil the ocean	Undertake an impossible or impractical task [1]
Buck the trend	To follow an action against market tendencies
Build capacity	Take actions which increase the amount of work that can be done in the future.
Circle back	Discuss later[1]
Circle the wagons	Defensive strategy to provide time to plan or produce a better solution
Cover all directions of the compass	Ensure the product specification covers everything
Create the storyboard	Outline what the solution will look like
Deep dive	Get into the detail
Drill down	Investigate in depth [1]
Flogging a dead horse	Wasting efforts[1]
Have the vendor in our pocket	Keep a vendor/contractors paid
Ideate	Come up with ideas[1]
Land and expand	To sell a small solution and then grow it within the client's environment
Make hay	Productive or successful in a short time[1]
Moving forward	Making progress on an idea or scheme
Move the goal posts	Change the criteria for success[1]
Pick the low-hanging fruit	Go (initially) for the easiest options [1]
Power to the elbow	Get additional backup information to make your case stronger
Pull the plug	Close a venture that is losing money or has no prospects of success
Punt	Relinquish responsibility[1]
Pushing the envelope	Going outside normal boundaries to achieve a target or goal (such as exceeding specifications)
Put this on your radar	Consider this[1]
Scrub the numbers	Find errors[1]
Sing from the same hymn sheet	Show a united front, or everyone understanding and saying the same thing to clientele.
Table the conversation	Reconvene at a later time[1]
Test the water	'Put your toe' into a market to determine its temperature.
Touch base	To meet up with a colleague to discuss progress (from baseball)
Touch base offline	Meet and talk[1]
Tranch up the workload	Divide responsibilities[1]
Trim the fat	Cut excess budgets, remove avoidable costs [1]
Unscramble that egg	Take care of that mess[1]

See also

• Buzzwords
• Corporate communication
• Corporate jargon
• Doublespeak
• Euphemism
• Obfuscation