Business Terms Explained

An AI Assistant is software powered by artificial intelligence that understands natural language and helps users accomplish tasks. In business software, AI assistants can draft messages, schedule meetings, analyze data, and automate workflows. Dew, Dewx's AI assistant, goes beyond suggestions - it actually executes tasks like sending follow-ups or updating your CRM when you ask in plain English.

An Activity Timeline shows every interaction with a contact in chronological order: emails sent, WhatsApp messages, calls made, meetings held, notes added, and deals updated. This complete history ensures anyone on your team can understand the relationship context at a glance. In Dewx, the activity timeline is visible in the CRM sidebar alongside conversations.

A Business Operating System (BOS) is a comprehensive software platform that serves as the central hub for all business operations. Unlike traditional software suites with separate apps, a BOS integrates CRM, communication, project management, finance, and often AI assistance into a single unified interface. The goal is to eliminate software fragmentation and give business owners one place to run everything. Dewx is an example of a Business Operating System designed for SMBs.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is software designed to help businesses manage all interactions with current and potential customers. A CRM stores contact information, tracks communication history, manages sales pipelines, and provides insights into customer relationships. Modern CRMs like Dewx go beyond basic contact management to include unified messaging, AI assistance, and operations tools.

Contact-centric design organizes information by person rather than by communication channel or platform. Instead of separate inboxes for email, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn, a contact-centric system shows ALL communications with a person in one chronological view. This gives you the complete picture of your relationship with each contact. Dewx Portal is built on contact-centric principles.

Contact Management involves storing and organizing information about the people and companies your business interacts with. Beyond basic info (name, email, phone), modern contact management includes company details, social profiles, communication history, tags, and custom fields. In Dewx, contacts are automatically enriched with data from all connected messaging channels.

A Deal (sometimes called Opportunity) represents a potential sale in your CRM. Deals are associated with contacts or companies and include information like expected value, close date, and current stage. Tracking deals in a pipeline helps sales teams forecast revenue and prioritize their time. Dewx's CRM sidebar shows all deals associated with a contact directly in the conversation view.

In Dewx, Hubs are specialized modules that group related functionality. GTM Hub (Go-to-Market) handles sales, marketing, and CRM. CX Hub (Customer Experience) manages support, projects, and client work. OPS Hub (Operations) covers finance, HR, and payroll. DEW Hub contains AI tools and automation. Hubs share data and work together while providing focused interfaces for different tasks.

A Lead is a person or company that has expressed interest in your product or service. Leads can come from various sources: website forms, social media, referrals, cold outreach, or events. The goal of lead management is to qualify leads (determine if they're a good fit) and nurture them until they become customers. In a CRM, leads are tracked through the sales pipeline.

Lead Qualification is the process of evaluating whether a lead is worth pursuing. Common qualification frameworks include BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) and MEDDIC. Qualified leads (SQLs - Sales Qualified Leads) are prioritized for sales attention, while unqualified leads may be nurtured or removed. AI assistants like Dew can help qualify leads by asking discovery questions automatically.

A Multi-Channel Sequence is an automated series of touchpoints across different communication platforms. For example: Day 1 - LinkedIn connection request, Day 3 - Email introduction, Day 5 - WhatsApp follow-up. Unlike single-channel sequences (email only), multi-channel sequences meet prospects where they are and typically achieve higher response rates. Dewx enables multi-channel sequences across email, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp.

Omnichannel is an approach where businesses provide a consistent, connected experience regardless of how customers interact - whether through email, phone, WhatsApp, social media, or in person. Information flows seamlessly between channels so customers don't have to repeat themselves. A unified inbox is a key technology for enabling omnichannel communication.

Portal is Dewx's unified inbox feature that aggregates messages from WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Gmail, Instagram, Outlook, Telegram, and more. Unlike traditional inboxes organized by channel, Portal is contact-centric - showing all conversations with a person across all channels in one chronological thread. The right sidebar displays CRM context (deals, tasks, notes) for the selected contact.

Response Time measures how quickly you reply to incoming messages. Research shows that responding to leads within 5 minutes makes you 100x more likely to connect than waiting 30 minutes. A unified inbox helps reduce response time by consolidating all messages in one place and enabling AI-assisted quick replies. Dewx tracks response times and can automate instant acknowledgments.

A Sales Pipeline is a visual system that shows the stages a prospect goes through before becoming a customer. Typical stages include Lead, Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation, and Won/Lost. Pipelines help sales teams understand how many deals are in progress, their total value, and what actions are needed to move them forward. Pipeline management is a core feature of CRMs like Dewx.

SMB stands for Small and Medium-sized Business. Definitions vary, but SMBs typically have fewer than 500 employees and annual revenue under $100 million. SMBs face unique challenges: they need powerful tools but lack enterprise IT budgets and staff. Dewx is specifically designed for SMBs (particularly under 50 employees), offering enterprise-grade features without complexity or enterprise pricing.

A Unified Inbox consolidates messages from various communication channels into a single interface. Instead of checking Gmail, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other apps separately, all messages appear in one place. Advanced unified inboxes like Dewx Portal are contact-centric, showing all conversations with a person across all channels in one thread. This eliminates app-switching and ensures no message falls through the cracks.

Workflow Automation uses technology to perform repetitive tasks without human intervention. Examples include: auto-assigning leads to sales reps, sending follow-up emails after a meeting, or updating a deal stage when a proposal is viewed. Dewx combines traditional rule-based automation with AI-powered automation where you describe what you want in plain language.