Tech Talk: A Guide to Evolving Language

A provider of Flex & Virtual Office, Primacy Business Center launched this blog to help our clients—and other small and medium businesses like them—learn from our experience watching the industry, workplace and world change since 1998.

Technology grew significantly in the 1990s and has accelerated since. To keep up, workplace and tech language has evolved too. Existing words gained new meanings, while new vocabulary emerged for things unimaginable 30 or 40 years ago. The pandemic further changed how and where we work and accelerated technology adoption across industries.

So here is our list of words and phrases that underwent shifts in meaning due to technology. Feel free to add your favorite new terms in the comments!

Tech Language Glossary

Agent: This term has dual meanings. It remains a descriptor of a person working on your behalf but also refers to an AI system performing autonomous tasks.

Artificial intelligence (AI): For decades a term reserved for computer science research and science fiction, it now describes software that can learn and perform tasks—like researching and analyzing—under human direction.

Async: Originally computer-science shorthand for time-lagged digital communication, today it’s a corporate buzzword to fight notification fatigue and account for communications across time zones.

Bandwidth: This term has dual meanings. The original network/signal capacity and, more recently, human capacity. It’s one of the few tech terms adapted to humans, rather than the reverse.

Bot: Once referring broadly and generically to robots, it now is used to describe specific automated software agents.

Cloud: Widely familiar due to its adaptation across business and consumer users, it involves remote serves and internet-based infrastructure to store data and run software programs and systems.

Coworking: A shared, flexible workplace model where unrelated businesses or individuals rent day offices or other workstations on flexible terms.

Day office: Often available in a coworking or flexible workspace, an office or workstation rented per day versus a long-term lease.

Digital nomad: One who works remotely while travelling.

Flexible workspace, aka Flex space: Originally a hybrid industrial/office building type in commercial real estate, it now refers to on-demand office, suite or meeting space rented by the hour, day, week or month, without a long-term lease.

Hot desking: Using any available, unassigned desk rather than a permanently assigned one.

Hoteling: Booking or reserving an unassigned desk or office often using workspace-scheduling software, often used interchangeably with “hot desking”.

Hybrid work: Splitting time between remote work/WFH and in-office work.

Model: With multiple meanings, the newest workplace use references an AI system, e.g., “The model hallucinated”.

Notification fatigue: The mental exhaustion felt by bombardment by digital alerts.

Pinning: Similar to the traditional meaning to attach to a surface with a pin, e.g., post on a corkboard, it means digitally affixing a post, message or app to the top of a feed for visibility.

Platform: A software ecosystem or tech infrastructure.

Receptionist: This still refers to a person stationed at a front desk to greet visitors and answer phones, but the service is often remote as part of virtual office services, oftentimes using cloud phone systems.

Remote assistant: The term now used for the original meaning of virtual assistant, human admin support for administrative tasks often provided from a different physical location than a client, e.g., a WFH client with administrative tasks completed by a professional who is working from another location, such as our flex workspace.

Remote work: Performing job duties from a location outside a traditional office, whether from home (WFH) or while travelling as a digital nomad, typically using internet-based and cloud technology to access files, software and systems.

RTO: Return to office, a trend reversing WFH and hybrid work back to maintaining a traditional workplace presence, post-pandemic.

Virtual assistant: This term has dual meanings. The original meaning—remote human admin support for tasks such as fax and email, and mail and package handling—remains in use. However, because of the newer meaning—AI chatbot/software agents evolving from Clippy to conversational AI—we often use the term “remote assistant” for the original meaning to distinguish it from the more recent meaning.

Virtual office: A remote business setup offering a professional business address, mail/phone handling and optional administrative support without a physical office or lease, often provided as a suite of services or offered ala carte.

WFH: Work from home, typically using internet-based and cloud technology to access files, software and systems.

Zoom fatigue: Exhaustion caused by frequent video calls.

We hope you find value in our new blog. If you think we’ve missed some new words and phrases, please add them in the comments.