Technology12 min readUpdated: October 24, 2026

IT Glossary for Business: 24 Terms, from CRM and API to KSeF, AI Agents and SLAs

24 terms from software house proposals explained in plain language: CRM, API, ERP, KSeF, PWA, MVP, SaaS, chatbot, RAG, AI agent, TCO, SLA and more. With examples and indicative prices from Polish companies’ price lists.

This glossary explains, in plain language, the terms you come across in software house proposals and in conversations about business software. Each entry has a short definition, a real-world example and, where possible, an indicative price in Polish złoty (PLN) from the public price lists of Polish companies (as of October 2026; details in our IT service prices report).

Sales and customers

CRM (CRM system)

Customer Relationship Management

Software in which a company manages its customer database, contact history, quotes and sales in one place.

Instead of spreadsheets and email inboxes, everyone on the team can see who spoke to a customer and about what. An off-the-shelf CRM is sold as a per-user subscription (the cheapest plans from Polish vendors start at 69 PLN net per user per month). A custom CRM is built around the processes of a single company.

Custom CRM (custom-built CRM)

A CRM built from scratch around a single company’s processes: its sales stages, documents and integrations, with no per-user fees.

It pays off when the team has to work around an off-the-shelf system to make it fit the way they work, or when licenses for a growing team start to cost more than building your own. According to Polish companies’ price lists, the simplest version costs from 3,000 to 40,000 PLN (median 15,000 PLN), and a system with several modules 40,000-120,000 PLN net.

Sales funnel

sales pipeline

The stages a potential customer goes through, from first contact (a lead) through a quote and negotiations to a signed contract.

In a CRM, the funnel shows how many sales opportunities are at each stage and where most of them drop off. The stages should reflect how the company actually sells: for a solar PV company, for example, they might be lead, audit, quote, contract and installation.

Custom software

Web application

Software that runs in a web browser with nothing to install: a dashboard for the team, a booking system, a customer portal or an ordering tool.

A single version works on a computer, tablet and phone, and every update reaches all users at once. Starting prices at Polish companies range from 3,999 to 30,000 PLN (median 15,000 PLN), and an MVP with roles and integrations costs 30,000-90,000 PLN.

PWA (Progressive Web App)

A web application that you install on a phone straight from the browser, without an app store, and that can work offline.

Data saved on the phone syncs once the signal is back. This is often a cheaper route than two separate apps for Android and iOS. Example: a mobile CRM for a renewable energy company, in which sales reps keep working in the field even with no signal.

MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

The first version of a product with the smallest set of features that lets you test the idea with real users.

In a business system, the MVP is usually one process from start to finish, e.g. taking orders, with no features built “just in case”. According to Polish companies’ price lists, an MVP with roles and integrations costs 30,000-90,000 PLN.

Customer portal and B2B portal

A website with a login where a company’s customers check their orders, invoices and documents themselves, or place a new order.

A B2B portal adds what wholesale needs: a business customer sees the catalog with its own prices, places orders itself and gets a VAT invoice straight away. It takes phone calls and emails about prices and order status off the customer service team.

SaaS (Software as a Service)

Subscription software that runs on the vendor’s servers and is accessed over the internet.

You pay monthly per user or per company, and the vendor takes care of the servers and updates. Convenient to start with, but with a large team the cost grows with every person, and changes to the system depend on the vendor. Compare the options by their 3-year cost.

No-code and low-code

Tools in which you build an application from ready-made components in the browser, without writing code (no-code) or with a small amount of code (low-code).

They are enough for simple processes and a few dozen users. Popular tools cost 19-349 USD a month with annual billing. The limitations are caps on users and records, plus any integration the tool’s catalog lacks (e.g. with Polish accounting software).

Integrations, invoices and data

API

Application Programming Interface

A defined way for one program to exchange data with another, with no human involved.

Through an API, an online store passes an order to the accounting software, and a CRM fetches the payment status. When a program has no API, connecting it requires fragile workarounds, such as exporting files or retyping data by hand.

System integration

Connecting the programs a company already uses (online store, accounting, ERP, CRM, KSeF, payments) so that data flows between them automatically.

It eliminates retyping the same data in several places. According to Polish companies’ price lists, a single integration via an API costs 2,000-10,000 PLN net and usually takes 1-3 weeks.

ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning

A system for managing a company’s resources: inventory, production, purchasing, finance and HR.

A CRM handles customers and sales, while an ERP handles what happens in the company after the sale. In small companies, accounting and inventory software often does the job of an ERP, and the CRM and online store connect to it through an integration.

KSeF (Polish National e-Invoicing System)

A government platform run by the Polish Ministry of Finance, through which businesses in Poland issue and receive structured invoices (in XML format).

Since February 1, 2026, issuing invoices in KSeF has been mandatory for companies with sales above 200 million PLN in 2024, and since April 1, 2026, for all other companies. Until December 31, 2026, some invoices may still be issued outside KSeF, including invoices whose total gross value in a month does not exceed 10,000 PLN. An online store, CRM or in-house system connects to KSeF through invoicing software, a platform plugin, an API gateway or a direct integration.

AI in business

AI chatbot

A program on a website, in a messaging app or in a company’s system that answers questions in natural language using a language model.

A simple chatbot answers based on the company’s knowledge and collects contact details, while a more advanced one checks order status or books appointments. Polish providers’ starting prices for a first AI implementation range from 1,790 to 7,500 PLN (median 3,450 PLN), and a chatbot with integrations costs 8,000-15,000 PLN.

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

chatbot using company knowledge

A way of building a chatbot in which the AI model, before answering, searches the company’s documents for relevant passages and bases its answer on them.

This way, the chatbot gives information from the company’s price list, terms and conditions or manuals rather than from the model’s general knowledge, and makes things up less often. Companies in the industry estimate such a chatbot at 5,000-15,000 PLN or 25,000-80,000 PLN, depending on the scope.

AI agent

A program built on a language model that does not just answer but carries out tasks: it looks up data in the company’s systems, prepares documents and calls other programs through an API.

A well-built agent acts within the permissions it has been given and asks a person for approval before important steps. According to Polish companies’ price lists, an agent with access to a CRM or ERP costs 15,000-80,000 PLN. An example from our own work: an AI agent in Telegram.

Voicebot

AI voice assistant

An AI assistant that holds a spoken conversation: it answers the phone or talks to visitors on a website, understands speech and replies by voice.

Most often it answers recurring questions and books appointments, and hands harder cases over to a person. On this website you can talk to Ania, our AI assistant, who books free consultation calls.

Process automation

Handing repetitive work, such as retyping data, sending notifications or preparing reports, over to software that does it on its own according to set rules.

Simple automations are built in tools such as n8n or Make, connected to the company’s software. An AI model comes in where text has to be understood, e.g. to read an invoice or an email. According to Polish companies’ price lists, a single automation starts at around 2,000 PLN.

Costs, contracts and maintenance

TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

the full cost of a system over time

All the costs of a system over a set period, e.g. 3 years: purchase or build, licenses, implementation, maintenance, server and further development.

Comparing only the upfront price is misleading. Example: over 3 years, an off-the-shelf CRM for 10 people costs from 36,183 to 157,316 PLN in licenses alone, depending on the system.

Fixed price vs. time and materials

Two ways of billing a project: a fixed price for a defined scope, or payment for the hours actually worked (time and materials).

A fixed price gives you a predictable budget but requires a precisely written scope. Hourly billing is flexible, but the risk of going over budget shifts to the client. According to a compilation by the Polish price portal cenauslug.pl, the average rate for web application development in Poland is 174 PLN net per hour (March 2026).

SLA (Service Level Agreement)

The part of a contract in which the provider commits to a specific level of service, e.g. a response time for outages and a level of system availability.

Without an SLA, “fast support” means nothing. Check when the response time starts counting (when the issue is reported or when it is acknowledged), during what hours it applies and what happens if the provider fails to meet it.

System maintenance (post-launch support)

Ongoing care of a live system: server, backups, monitoring, security updates and bug fixes, often with a pool of hours for minor changes.

In Polish companies’ price lists, support for an application, CRM or online store costs from 300 to 1,499 PLN a month (median 500 PLN). Companies also estimate annual maintenance at 15-25% of the build cost.

Source code ownership

The rights to the code of a custom-built system: who may change it, develop it further with another provider and where it may be stored.

Under Polish copyright law, transferring the author’s economic rights requires a written contract that lists the fields of exploitation (the specific ways in which the work may be used). If the contract does not expressly transfer the rights, the author is presumed to have granted only a license. Without a transfer of rights, changing providers can be difficult.

Vendor lock-in

dependence on a single vendor

A situation in which switching systems or providers is so costly that a company sticks with its current one, even if it is not satisfied with it.

Protection against it comes from ownership of the code and the data, data export in an open format, documentation and access to the server. With a subscription system, check before you sign the contract how you will export your data if you cancel.

Update history

October 24, 2026First version: 24 terms in 5 groups, with prices from the IT service prices report (as of October 6-12, 2026).

Sources

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