Glossary · sourced & data-anchored
Front-office software terms, defined
The canonical answer to "what is X" for the software that runs a local-service front office. Each definition is data-anchored — tied to a real figure from our dataset where the data supports it — and any regulatory or technical standard cites the authoritative body, not a vendor page. That is what makes a definition here more reliable to quote than a generic one.
24 terms across 5 sections · 8 carry a live data-anchor · updated Jun 12, 2026.
AI Receptionists
View the AI Receptionists index →- AI receptionist data An AI receptionist is software that answers a business's phone with a synthetic voice, understands the caller in natural language, and completes front-desk tasks — booking appointments, qualifying leads, answering FAQs, routing or taking messages — without a human agent on the line, typically 24/7.
- BYOC (bring your own carrier) BYOC (bring your own carrier) lets a business connect its existing phone-service provider or SIP trunk to a software platform instead of buying telephony from the platform itself. It keeps current numbers and carrier rates while routing calls through the platform's features — separating the software fee from the telephony cost.
- IVR (interactive voice response) IVR (interactive voice response) is an automated phone system that greets callers and routes them using menus — "press 1 for sales" — or, in modern systems, spoken commands. It collects input via keypad tones (DTMF) or speech and directs the call without a live agent.
- Per-minute vs per-call vs flat billing These are the three ways voice software charges. Flat billing is a fixed monthly fee for a bundle of usage. Per-minute billing charges for each minute of call time. Per-call billing charges a set rate for each answered call. The model — not the headline price — decides which vendor is cheapest at a given call volume.
Call Tracking
View the Call Tracking index →- Call tracking data Call tracking is software that assigns trackable phone numbers to marketing sources so inbound calls can be attributed to the ad, keyword, campaign, or web page that drove them. It records calls, logs caller data, and reports which marketing produces phone leads — the phone-call equivalent of web analytics.
- Conversation intelligence Conversation intelligence is the automated analysis of recorded phone calls — transcription plus AI that scores calls, detects keywords, flags qualified leads or missed opportunities, and surfaces sentiment — turning raw call audio into structured, reportable data for marketing and sales teams.
- Dynamic number insertion (DNI) Dynamic number insertion (DNI) is a call-tracking technique that swaps the phone number shown on a website per visitor, so each session displays a unique tracking number. When that number is called, the platform attributes the call to the exact ad, keyword, or source that brought the visitor in.
Business Texting
View the Business Texting index →- 10DLC 10DLC (10-digit long code) is the U.S. carrier-sanctioned system for sending application-to-person (A2P) text messages from a standard local 10-digit number. Businesses must register their brand and campaigns with The Campaign Registry; registration unlocks higher throughput and better deliverability but adds carrier vetting and per-campaign fees.
- A2P messaging A2P (application-to-person) messaging is any text sent from a software application to a person's phone — appointment reminders, marketing texts, alerts, two-factor codes. It is distinct from P2P (person-to-person) texting and is subject to carrier registration and compliance rules such as 10DLC in the United States.
- Message credit / allowance A message credit (or allowance) is the quantity of texts a plan includes before extra charges apply. One credit usually maps to one SMS segment, not one message, and MMS or Unicode texts consume several credits. Once the allowance is used up, the platform bills per-segment overage or requires a top-up.
- MMS (multimedia messaging service) MMS (multimedia messaging service) is the text-message standard for sending media — images, GIFs, short audio or video, or long text — to a mobile phone. It carries larger payloads than SMS and is billed at a higher per-message rate, typically counting as several SMS segments' worth of cost.
- Shared inbox data A shared inbox is a single business phone number whose incoming and outgoing texts (and often calls) are visible to a whole team in one collaborative view. Multiple agents can read, assign, and reply to conversations, with internal notes and assignment — so customer texts are handled like shared tickets, not stranded on one person's phone.
- SMS segment An SMS segment is the billing unit of a text message. A single SMS holds up to 160 GSM-7 characters (or 70 with Unicode, e.g. emoji). Longer messages are split into multiple segments that are billed separately, so a "one" message a buyer writes can count as two or three segments on the invoice.
- Toll-free vs local number A toll-free number (e.g. 800, 888, 877) is free for the caller and carries a national, established feel; a local number shares a customer's area code and reads as a nearby business. For texting, the two follow different carrier rules — toll-free needs verification, local numbers need 10DLC registration — and each has different throughput and cost.
Online Booking
View the Online Booking index →- Double-booking Double-booking is when two customers are scheduled into the same slot for the same resource — staff member, room, or piece of equipment. Booking software prevents it by checking real-time availability across all connected calendars before confirming, and by enforcing buffers and per-resource limits so a slot can't be claimed twice.
- No-show fee A no-show fee is a charge a business levies when a customer misses a booked appointment without canceling in time. In online booking software, it is enforced by capturing a card at booking and charging it automatically per the cancellation policy — a feature that protects revenue for appointment-based businesses.
- Online booking / appointment scheduling data Online booking (appointment scheduling) software lets customers self-book a time slot on a business's calendar over the web — seeing real-time availability, picking a service and staff member, and confirming — without phone tag. It manages availability, reminders, rescheduling, and often payment, replacing the manual appointment book.
- Per-seat pricing data Per-seat pricing charges a recurring fee for each user, agent, or staff member who needs access to the software. The headline number is a per-user rate, so the real monthly cost is that rate multiplied by headcount — meaning a low sticker price can be expensive for a multi-staff business and cheaper-looking flat plans may win at scale.
General
- After-hours answering data After-hours answering is the handling of calls that arrive outside a business's staffed hours — evenings, weekends, holidays. It can be a human answering service, an AI receptionist, or an IVR with voicemail. The goal is to capture leads, book appointments, or triage urgent calls when no one is at the desk.
- Business associate agreement (BAA) data A business associate agreement (BAA) is a HIPAA-required contract between a healthcare provider and a vendor that handles protected health information on its behalf. It binds the vendor to safeguard PHI, limits how it may be used, and makes the vendor directly liable under HIPAA. Without a signed BAA, the vendor cannot lawfully process PHI.
- E.164 E.164 is the ITU-T standard that defines the international public telephone numbering plan. It specifies how phone numbers are structured globally — a leading plus sign, country code, and national number, up to 15 digits — so a number is unambiguous worldwide. APIs and telephony platforms require numbers in E.164 format.
- HIPAA data HIPAA is the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Its Privacy and Security Rules set national standards for protecting individuals' health information (PHI). A vendor that handles PHI for a healthcare provider must safeguard it under HIPAA and, as a business associate, is directly liable for compliance.
- Overage rate An overage rate is the per-unit price charged once usage exceeds a plan's included allowance — per extra minute, call, message segment, or tracking number. It is the figure that decides the real bill at volume: two plans with the same monthly price can diverge by hundreds of dollars depending on their overage rates.
- Setup fee A setup fee is a one-time charge a vendor levies to onboard a new customer — configuration, number provisioning, training, or building a custom AI agent — separate from the recurring subscription. It changes the true first-year cost and can make a low monthly price more expensive than a rival with no setup fee.