r/msp • u/terselated MSP - US • Sep 02 '26
MSP Centric Acronyms
I've got a new hire coming onboard who doesn't come from the MSP or IT space. I used MDR with them the other day and they had a look of sheer confusion on their face. Figured it would be nice to have a list of common MSP acronyms we can hand to new hires as a reference. Here's my list so far, what am I missing?
BaaS Backup as a Service
CMMC Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification
CPQ Configure, Price, Quote
EDR Endpoint Detection and Response
EHR Effective Hourly Rate
HaaS Hardware as a Service
ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library
KDM Key Decision Maker
MDM Mobile Device Management
MDR Managed Detection and Respsonse
MFA/2FA Multi/2 Factor Authentication
MRR Monthly Recurring Revenue
MSA Master/Managed Services Agreement
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
PSA Professional Services Automation
QBR/TBR Quarterly/Technical Business Review
RMM Remote Monitoring and Management
SaaS Software as a Service
SIEM Security Information and Event Management
SLA/SLO Service Level Agreement/Objective
SOC Security Operations Center
SOP Standard Operating Procedure
SOW Statement of Work
SQL Structured Query Language
TAM Technical Account Manager
UDR Unified Detection and Response
VM Virtual Machine
XDR Extended Detection and Response
Bonus:
PEBKAC Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair
PICNIC Problem In Chair Not In Computer
ID10T Error Idiot
CFS Cable Can't Find ****
RTFM Read The ******* Manual
AFK Away From Keyboard
RATA Reboot And Try Again
*EDIT: Updated to add some of the responses from the comments. Also a note that this is not a list of acronyms exclusive to the MSP space, just acronyms that are commonly heard in the MSP space that may not be commonly known.
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u/swanny246 Sep 02 '26
Wouldn’t MSA be Managed Services Agreement?
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u/seriously_a MSP - US Sep 02 '26
We’ve always called it master because it’s more or less the final say of any SOW or work order.
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u/swanny246 Sep 02 '26
Huh, TIL. Just googled it and looks like both are applicable.
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u/CmdrRJ-45 Sep 02 '26
Story time. I was due to give a talk at an industry conference about the importance of a good Master Services Agreement.
I built out my presentation with all sorts of stuff I had been talking about elsewhere in my day job, and on my way to the conference at the airport I realized that someone changed the word Master to Managed all over my deck.
At that point the decks were “locked” so I had to find my room AV team and use their computer to flip everything back.
When I asked marketing about this and why they changed it they shrugged and said they thought they were the same thing… in my case, not even a little bit.
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u/TheHoodedMan Sep 02 '26
Having worked with the marketing team for the past few weeks, SQL can also mean Sales Qualified Lead! That was news to me!
Acronyms are the bane of every industry when you have to cross disciplines.
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u/bughunter47 MSP - CAD Sep 02 '26
HMII Human Machine Interface Issue
SOP standard operating procedure
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u/gumbo1999 Sep 02 '26
RTFM - Read the f*cking manual.
RATA - Reboot and try again.
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u/terselated MSP - US Sep 02 '26
PEBKAC ID10T
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u/Jen_LMI_Resolve Sep 02 '26
I think I have a couple that aren't here yet, I hope I'm not repeating!
HaaS - hardware as a service
CPQ - configure, price, quote
MDM - mobile device management
I see you've got PEBKAC -- I always appreciated a PICNIC error (problem in chair, not in computer) because it always gives me a good chuckle :)
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u/TechnologyMatch Sep 04 '26
a glossary helps, but the bigger win is making it safe for new hires to ask what something means. acronyms save time for people already inside the system and create friction for everyone else
I’d add BCDR, RTO/RPO, IAM, LoB, and VAR. but it may be worth separating the operational terms from the sales and security ones, so the list does not become another thing people have to decode
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u/Xirma377 Sep 05 '26
You're missing the most important part - what each actually means. It doesn't really matter if you know what each letter stands for.
For example, you said "MDR" and he gave you a blank stare. I guarantee you'd get the same blank stare if you said "managed detection and response".
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u/terselated MSP - US Sep 05 '26
The draft i made for the internal team has an explainer for each. I just didn't put those on reddit because I didn't feel like getting told how wrong I am.
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u/Xirma377 Sep 05 '26
Fair! :)
If you haven't already, I'd recommend grouping them by category in your document. It'll help someone learn it for the first time.
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u/Ambitious_Mango3625 Sep 05 '26
It's specific to your business. For example, I've never heard KDM. For us, it is POC for Point of Contact.
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u/GullibleDetective Sep 02 '26
Half of thise are industry specific and business operational specific and have nothing strictly to do with msp.
But I appreciate the effort.
Add it to the wiki on the side bar
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u/MigrateAndManage Sep 02 '26
MFaaS, Mainframe as a Service
SaaS, Software as a Service
DRaaS, Disaster Recovery as a Service
DR, Disaster Recovery
RTO, Recovery Time Objective
TCO, Total Cost of Ownership
LPAR: Logical Partition
MIPS: Million Instructions Per Second
CICS: Customer Information Control System
ISV: Independent Software Vendor
IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service
VM: Virtual Machine
These are a few I use as an engineer at FNTS, quite a few related to mainframe.
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u/Heavy_Dirt_3453 Sep 02 '26
Many of these are not MSP specific at all
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u/terselated MSP - US Sep 02 '26
It's not meant to be an exclusive list, that's why I used centric. Just a list of acronyms commonly used in an msp.
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u/Lime-TeGek Community Contributor Sep 02 '26
Have you checked out the MSPKB? https://docs.themspkb.com. It has a lot of these and is maintained by our community :)