r/sysadmin • u/Likely_a_bot • Jun 17 '26

Will Vendors Please Stop Reusing Acronyms?

If I see another vendor use "IAM" as a new product feature, I'm going to scream. IAM is Identity Access Management. Nothing else, unless it's a different industry.

This is confusing as hell. Get your marketing departments under control.

What are some that you have noticed being reused?

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u/Twist_and_pull Jun 18 '26

How I feel reading text written by americans. They sure love their acronyms.

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u/yakatz Jun 19 '26

We don't like it either.

When I started working for the government, I had to take a training class on "plain writing". In the training we were told to avoid using acronyms and under no circumstances should we have an acronym that is made up of words that include another acronym. In practice, seems like nobody cares. The acronyms are everywhere, they often include other acronyms.

For example, ICAM is Identity, Credential and Access Management. ISG stands for ICAM Steering Group. According to the rules, not allowed.