This is a submission from Hunter Richards, who blogs about online accounting software and other systems for Software Advice.

Streamline business processes. Enhance workflow. Increase visibility. Do these really mean anything? Let’s face it – ERP, CRM, and accounting system vendors talk a lot of nonsense about their products. Inspired by Gartner‘s magic quadrants, I’ve decided to put this marketing jargon in its place. The quadrant below classifies the most common phrases, sorted by degree of overuse and lack of meaning. Hover your mouse over a given phrase to see my snarky comments.

Note that we find a lot of straight-up gibberish, a fair amount of creative garbage (my favorite), a little bit of acceptable marketing, and no helpful description whatsoever. No wonder the software selection process is so grueling. But hey, that’s what we’re here for – to dig through all the fluff. So, what methodology did I use, you ask? Well… it was purely subjective. Don’t like how I judged your favorite phrase? Leave me a comment.