Glossary
The words you meet when connecting your tools and following your businesses, explained simply. No technical knowledge needed.
2-step verification
2-step verification adds a second check at sign-in, most often a code received on your phone.
It protects an account even if the password is stolen. When it is active on a mailbox, you need an app password to connect that mailbox to Pilot-Biz.
Activity feed
The activity feed is the list, newest first, of everything happening in your businesses.
You can filter it by business, by type (orders, payments, messages) or keep only what needs action. It updates by itself, without reloading the page.
API
An API is a doorway through which two pieces of software exchange information with no human involved.
When your shop sends an order to Pilot-Biz, it goes through an API. You do not have to program anything to use it: the connection guides say what to paste and where. The Pilot-Biz API is mostly for developers connecting a custom site.
API key
An API key is a long password meant for software, which proves that a request really comes from you.
It must not be shared, like a password. If you think it has leaked, it is replaced by a new one and the old one stops working. For most tools, Pilot-Biz gives you a personal link instead, so you do not have to handle a key.
App password
An app password is a secret code, created specifically for one piece of software, that gives it access to your mailbox without revealing your real password.
Gmail, Outlook and others require it when 2-step verification is on. You create it in your account’s security settings, paste it into Pilot-Biz, and can delete it at any time without changing your usual password. Pilot-Biz encrypts it before storing it.
Business
In Pilot-Biz, a business is one of your activities: a shop, a restaurant, a practice, a services site.
Each business has its own event feed, connections, WhatsApp number and figures. The free plan includes one business; Pro includes three, and each additional business costs a few euros a month.
See pricing See also: WorkspaceSee also: Multi-business dashboard
Connected form
A connected form is a contact or quote form whose every submission goes straight to your dashboard.
It can come from Typeform, Tally or your own site. Each response becomes a request, with the visitor’s name, contact and message, which you handle from your phone.
CRM
A CRM is a tool that remembers your customers: who they are, what they bought, when to follow up.
Pilot-Biz is not a full CRM, but it keeps customer records fed by what arrives in the feed (orders, requests, messages), which is enough for many small businesses.
Encryption
Encryption turns information into a code that is unreadable without the key that unlocks it.
In Pilot-Biz, the secrets you entrust (a mailbox app password, access keys) are encrypted before they are stored. Even reading the database, they cannot be read back. Exchanges with the site go over a secure connection (https).
Event
An event is something that has just happened in one of your businesses: an order, a payment, a request, a message, a booking.
Each event arrives in the feed with its time, the business concerned and, when there is one, the amount. Urgent events trigger an alert; payments feed revenue.
Orders and payments tracking See also: Activity feedSee also: Webhook
GDPR
The GDPR is the European rule protecting personal data: you must say what data you keep and why, and allow it to be erased.
Pilot-Biz hosts data in Europe, isolates each workspace and lets you delete a business or your account, with all associated data.
IMAP
IMAP is the protocol that lets software read the emails of a mailbox without deleting them.
Pilot-Biz uses it read-only: it sees the emails arriving in a mailbox you choose, turns them into requests, and never changes them. Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, OVH and most providers support it.
Integration
An integration is a link between two tools so that they exchange information automatically.
Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe, Gmail or WhatsApp connect to Pilot-Biz in a few minutes. Each guide shows the exact menus to open.
JSON
JSON is a very simple text format in which software sends information to each other, for example a customer’s name and the amount of an order.
You do not need to read it: most tools send it for you. It mostly matters to developers connecting a custom site to Pilot-Biz.
Lead
A lead is a person who has shown interest in your offer without having bought yet: a quote request, a message, a sign-up.
In Pilot-Biz, requests received by form, email or WhatsApp are filed as requests to handle, so none is left unanswered.
Mobile Money
Mobile Money is a way of paying and sending money with your phone number, very widespread in Africa.
Orange Money, MTN MoMo or Wave are examples. Pilot-Biz prices are also shown in CFA francs for customers who pay this way.
Morning brief
The morning brief is a summary sent every morning: what happened in 24 hours, revenue and what needs action.
It arrives on Telegram or by email, for all your businesses in a single message. You read it in a minute, before even opening the dashboard.
Multi-business dashboard
A multi-business dashboard gathers on a single screen the activity of several companies or activities run by the same person.
Instead of opening each activity’s shop, mailbox, WhatsApp and bank, you see in one place the orders, payments, requests and messages of all your businesses, with what is urgent first. That is what Pilot-Biz does.
The multi-business dashboard See also: BusinessSee also: Activity feed
Payment gateway
A payment gateway is the service that collects an online payment and confirms to your site that the money has arrived.
Stripe and PayPal are examples. They send a message (a webhook) for each successful, refunded or declined payment. Connected to Pilot-Biz, that message becomes an event in your feed and an updated revenue figure.
Personal link
The personal link is the secret address, unique to each connection, to which your site or tool sends its information.
It is a webhook presented simply: you copy it into your tool’s settings (Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe…) and events arrive in Pilot-Biz. It must not be shared.
Connect a site without code See also: WebhookSee also: Token
Telegram bot
A Telegram bot is an automatic account that sends you messages in Telegram, for example for every new order.
The Pilot-Biz bot warns you when something needs your attention: a payment, an urgent request, the morning brief. It does not read your other conversations. To link it, you open Telegram, find the bot and press Start.
Token
A token is a unique code, hard to guess, built into a link or a request to prove it is authorised.
Each connection’s personal link contains a token. Anyone who has the link can send events into that business, so it should not be published. If it is exposed, a new one is generated in one click.
Webhook
A webhook is an automatic message that a tool sends to a specific address as soon as something happens, for example a new order.
It is the opposite of checking every five minutes whether anything new has arrived: the tool warns you itself, immediately. In Pilot-Biz, each connection’s personal link is a webhook: you paste it into Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe or a form, and every event arrives in your feed.
Connect a site without code See also: EventSee also: Personal linkSee also: API
WhatsApp Business API
The WhatsApp Business API is the official version of WhatsApp for companies, which lets software receive and send messages on behalf of a number.
It is provided by Meta and connects to a dedicated number. This is what lets Pilot-Biz show every business’s conversations in one place. A number cannot be used in the WhatsApp Business phone app and in the API at the same time: you pick one number per business.
WhatsApp for several businesses See also: WhatsApp Business app
WhatsApp Business app
The WhatsApp Business app is the free phone app for small businesses, with a catalogue and quick replies.
It stays useful for chatting from your phone, but it does not connect to a dashboard. To follow several businesses in one place, you go through the WhatsApp Business API.
Workspace
A workspace is the account that groups your businesses, your team and your subscription.
When you sign up, Pilot-Biz creates yours automatically. You can invite colleagues with a limited role, and one workspace’s data is never visible from another.
Create your workspace in one minute
One business free, no credit card. Your first event in a few minutes.