Glossary

These docs are read by operations, technology, legal and commercial teams, and each brings its own vocabulary. This glossary defines every term the docs use, in plain language, so a reader from any of those teams can follow any page. Each entry links to the page that covers the subject in full. The ten terms that matter most are explained with examples in Key concepts.

Terms from A to C

AES-256. A widely used encryption standard (Advanced Encryption Standard with 256-bit keys). Data stored in your deployment is encrypted with it. See Encryption.

Agent. A specialised AI agent, built for your industry, that holds conversations with your customers within limits your team controls. See How an agent works.

API. Application programming interface: the defined way a system lets other software read and update its data. See How integrations work.

Audit trail. The log of every request, lookup, decision, action and change in your deployment, with the source used and the rule that applied. See Audit trail and decision records.

Barge-in. A caller speaking while the agent is talking. The agent stops and listens, as a person would. See Voice: inbound and outbound calls.

Business solution provider. Meta's term for a company that connects businesses to the WhatsApp Business Platform. Telonic connects through Meta's Cloud API, or through your existing provider if you have one. See WhatsApp: overview.

Channel. A way a customer reaches you: voice, WhatsApp, SMS, email, or web and app. See Channels overview.

Code-switching. Moving between two languages within one conversation or one sentence, as many customers in the Gulf do between Arabic and English. See Switching languages mid-sentence.

Codec. The format used to compress call audio for transmission, such as G.711, G.722 or Opus. See Voice: connecting your telephony over SIP.

Confidence threshold. The level of confidence, measured for the model before deployment, below which the agent passes a consequential answer to a person. See Escalation rules.

Console. The Telonic web application your team uses, with views named Overview, Conversations, Records, Workflows, Quality and Insights. See The console.

Contact centre platform. The software that queues and routes calls and messages to your team. The agent works alongside it. See Contact centre platforms.

Conversation. One exchange with a customer on one channel, such as a call, a WhatsApp exchange or an email thread. See Key concepts.

CRM. Customer relationship management system: the system that holds your customer and sales records. It stays your system of record for customer and account data. See CRM and ERP.

Custom action. A connection, defined during implementation, to a system that has no standard connector, using an interface the system exposes. See Custom actions.

Customer-managed keys. Encryption keys you create and control in your own cloud account. See Encryption.

Customer record. One continuous record of each customer, across every channel and department. See The customer record.

Customer service window. Meta's rule that a business may reply freely on WhatsApp for 24 hours after a customer's last message. Outside it, the business must use an approved message template. See WhatsApp: message templates and outbound messages.

Terms from D to H

Data residency. Keeping data inside a chosen country. See Hosting and data residency.

Decision boundary. The line between what the agent handles, what it prepares for a person, and what stays with your team. See Decision boundaries.

Dedicated environment. A deployment on infrastructure used by your organisation alone. By default, each customer's deployment is separated logically on shared infrastructure. See Deployment separation.

Deployment. Telonic set up for your organisation: your agents, channels, connections, limits and customer record, in the hosting option you chose. See How a deployment works.

Dialect. A regional form of a language. Gulf (Khaleeji), Egyptian and Levantine Arabic differ from each other, and from Modern Standard Arabic, in words and pronunciation. See Supported languages and Arabic dialects.

DTMF. Dual-tone multi-frequency: the tones a phone sends when a caller presses a key. Keypad input is configured during implementation for the lines that need it. See Keypad input, voicemail detection and caller ID.

Encryption in transit and at rest. Protecting data while it travels between systems (in transit) and while it is stored (at rest). See Encryption.

ERP. Enterprise resource planning system: the operational system where work such as bookings, maintenance or finance is recorded. See CRM and ERP.

Escalation. Moving a conversation to a person because a rule you set is triggered, the customer asks, or the agent is not confident enough. See Escalation rules.

First notice of loss. The first report of an insurance claim. See Insurance.

Foundation model. A large, general-purpose AI model built by a specialist provider. Telonic builds everything around it and does not train it. See Models and providers.

Go-live. The point at which the agent starts handling real customers. See How a deployment works.

Handover. Passing a conversation to a person on your team, with the full conversation and a written brief. See Handover to your team.

Handover brief. The written summary delivered with a handover: who the customer is, what they asked, what has been established and what is outstanding. See Handover to your team.

Hosting option. Where your deployment runs: a UAE region, a Saudi Arabian region, your own cloud account, or your own premises. See Hosting and data residency.

Terms from I to O

Identity check. How the agent confirms a customer is who they say they are before sharing account details: a knowledge check, a one-time passcode, or a signed-in session. See Matching contacts to customers.

Industry model. What the agent knows about your industry: the things your business runs on, such as a unit, a booking or a policy, and the rules attached to each. See Industry models.

Industry test set. Conversations drawn from real patterns in your industry, each scored against what a correct outcome means there, and run before every release. See Testing before every release.

Integration. A connection between the agent and one of your systems, with its own permissions. See Integrations overview.

Interruption handling. See barge-in.

Issue. The thing a customer got in touch about, followed from first contact to resolution across any number of conversations. See Issues and threading.

Language model. The AI component that interprets the conversation and composes the reply. See Models and providers.

Limit. One of your policies, built into what the agent is able to do rather than written as an instruction. See Policies as limits.

Message template. A pre-written WhatsApp message that Meta has reviewed and approved, used to start a conversation or to message a customer outside the customer service window. See WhatsApp: message templates and outbound messages.

Modern Standard Arabic. The formal Arabic of writing, news and government communication, shared across the Arab world. See Supported languages and Arabic dialects.

Multi-factor authentication. Signing in with a second proof of identity, such as a code on a phone, as well as a password. Often shortened to MFA. See Access control and single sign-on.

OAuth. A standard way for one system to give another limited access to it without sharing a password. Many cloud systems use it to authorise connections. See Permissions.

On-premises. Running your deployment on servers in your own facilities, set up to your requirements. See Hosting and data residency.

Open-weight model. A language model whose trained parameters are published, so it can run on infrastructure you control. On-premises deployments use open-weight models. See Models and providers.

OpenID Connect. A standard for single sign-on used by many identity providers. Often shortened to OIDC. See Access control and single sign-on.

Opt-in and opt-out. A customer's agreement to receive messages from you, and their request to stop. See WhatsApp: opt-in, opt-out and consent.

Outcome. How a conversation ended: resolved, still open, or handed to your team. See Outcomes and reasons for contact.

Terms from P to S

Placeholder. A marker that stands in for a piece of personal information in text sent to a language model outside your region. The real value is restored in the reply, inside your deployment. See Personal information redaction.

Policy. One of your business rules, such as a pricing structure, a fee, an entitlement or an approval level. Where these docs mean an insurance policy, they say so. See Key concepts.

Redaction. Removing personal information from text, or replacing it with placeholders, before the text leaves your deployment for anywhere other than your own systems and your own customers. See Personal information redaction.

Region. The country where your deployment runs and your customers' conversations are processed. See Hosting and data residency.

Role-based access control. Giving each person, and each agent, only the access its role needs. See Access control and single sign-on.

SAML. Security Assertion Markup Language: a standard that lets your identity provider sign people in to other applications. See Access control and single sign-on.

Sensitive action. An action you mark as needing a person's approval. The agent prepares it and holds it until someone on your team approves it. See The controls your team holds.

Session border controller. The device or service at the edge of your phone network that manages and secures SIP traffic. See Voice: connecting your telephony over SIP.

SIP. Session Initiation Protocol: the standard protocol business phone systems use to set up, transfer and end calls. See Voice: connecting your telephony over SIP.

SIP trunk. A virtual phone line that connects two phone systems over a network. See Voice: connecting your telephony over SIP.

Snagging. Defects a property buyer reports at or after handover, logged and tracked until they are fixed. See Property.

Speech recognition. Technology that turns spoken words into text as the caller speaks. It always runs in your chosen region. See Models and providers.

SRTP. Secure Real-time Transport Protocol: the standard that encrypts call audio. Call audio is encrypted with it by default. See Encryption.

SSO. Single sign-on: signing in to the console through your organisation's own identity provider, with the account people already use at work. See Access control and single sign-on.

Sub-processor. A company that processes personal data on Telonic's behalf, such as a hosting or model provider. The list is part of your data processing terms. See Sub-processors.

System of record. The system your organisation treats as the authoritative source for a kind of data. See The customer record.

Terms from T to Z

Template. See message template.

TLS. Transport Layer Security: the standard that encrypts data travelling between systems. Every connection between your systems and your deployment uses TLS 1.2 or higher. See Encryption.

Voice synthesis. Technology that speaks the agent's reply in a chosen voice. It always runs in your chosen region. See Voices.

Webhook. A message one system sends to another automatically when something happens, such as a booking changing. See How integrations work.

Workflow. The stages of a process in your industry, and the valid next step from each. See Workflows and customer journeys.

Zero data retention. An arrangement under which a provider does not keep the data sent to it once it has been processed. Telonic uses these arrangements wherever a provider offers them. See Storage, retention and deletion.

Related

• Key conceptsGetting started
• How an agent worksAgents
• Security and data protection overviewSecurity and data protection
• Voice: connecting your telephony over SIPChannels

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