BlackCSI Blog

Global supply chain shortages have been affecting businesses of all types for the better part of two years. For businesses that deal in computing, this problem has seen a jump in the price of some computer components, an inability to get some, and overall an interruption in their ability to supply the insatiable demand for technology. Today, we’d thought we’d take a look at some of the variables that have led us to the situation we now face. 

We just wanted to provide a public notice that Microsoft intends to increase the price of its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 offerings. If your business relies on these tools in its operations, you can expect to see your costs for them go up, regardless of where they are sourced from.

That’s the bad news. The good news is, we can help you get the greatest mileage out of these solutions… potentially by introducing you to capabilities that you have yet to take advantage of.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve taken a look at some flagship smartphones and some devices that present a lot of value. To wrap up our annual smartphone series, we are going to look at some of the most innovative—and expensive—devices on the market today. 

Many workplaces have taken to fighting the pandemic by adjusting their workplace strategies to enable both in-person and remote work. This change occurs as many companies realize that remote work is indeed a viable option, even in industries that have traditionally been opposed to the concept. With remote work so commonplace, it’s only prudent to include it in the onboarding process. Let’s go over some ways you can encourage your employees to build a more productive home office situation.

Have you ever heard of the concept of going passwordless? Considering how passwords have been central to data security and authentication for so long, you might be a little hesitant about the idea. However, data show that there are better options out there. Here are some of the better passwordless options your organization can implement.

Last week, we committed one of our blogs to examining some of the most impressive new flagship smartphones to be found on the market—the creme de la creme, if you will, with price tags to match. This week, we wanted to focus on a different market: those looking to get a great value for less than half of what the flagships demand. If you aren’t the type to finance a phone, here are three options to consider for less than $500.

While we're big proponents of cloud services, including those used for data storage, it is important to point out that it isn't just a matter of having a cloud. Whether you're using your cloud storage as your business' primary data storage or simply using it as a backup, part of your considerations needs to be whether or not your cloud storage remains secure.

We often use the term “redundant” to describe technology, and it’s easy to see this word and think about it in a negative way. However, in business technology, the exact opposite is true, and redundancy is widely seen as not just an important component of any successful IT strategy, but a critical one. What does redundancy mean to your business technology, and how can you make sure you implement it in the appropriate way?

The smartphone has ushered in a revolution for communication and productivity, and in today’s world, it’s critical that we keep an eye on the developments in smartphone technology to ensure workers stay competitively productive and ahead of the game. Let’s examine three of the flagship smartphone devices for early 2022.

Remote work for certain types of positions has really become quite popular, but for others, this is not necessarily true. For example, knowledge workers are seeing fewer new job postings. According to a report from Braintrust analyzing 150,000 new job postings, things are not all well and good for remote work.

Computers are machines, and machines function best when they are kept clean and tidy. Therefore, to get the most return on your investment for your computer and other computing hardware, you’ll have to keep things relatively clean. Today’s blog is all about how to make sure this happens!

Windows 11 has been released into the world, but has your organization embraced it yet? If not, you’re certainly not alone. Adoption for Windows 11 has been relatively slow, all things considered, and recent surveys and polls show that Windows 11’s adoption will proceed in this fashion–at least for the near future.

Some people shop almost exclusively online, and with the holidays gifting many folks gift cards, hackers are on the lookout for ways to exploit those who shop via the Internet. What can you do to stay safe while you are shopping online?

Using email to trick users is something that hackers have done for ages, but they usually find themselves tucked away in the spam folder where they belong, or blocked entirely by enterprise-level content filters. Hackers, however, are a crafty lot, and they have discovered ways to break through these measures through the use of a surprising third party: social media websites.

Investment in communications is one way that any company can improve operations and everything that comes along with them. There are many options out there to improve communications, but few have the same impact on your bottom line as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Relying on remote workers was always scary for a lot of businesses; particularly small businesses. The fear stems from a lack of control, whether it be monitoring security or productivity. This is why, before the pandemic, you saw a lot of businesses limit or disallow the practice completely. Today, however, most organizations have a completely different view of remote work. It literally saved many businesses. 

All businesses must make securing their infrastructures and reinforcing cybersecurity practices a priority, especially as we move into the new year. This is a concept that involves securing the network, infrastructure, and data from the countless threats out there. Here are three of the most important issues to keep in mind when building your cybersecurity strategy for the new year.

Ensure Your Organization’s Compliance with Financial Regulations

The threat landscape for organizations doing business today has never been more concentrated with potential pitfalls. At BlackCSI, we dedicate ourselves to designing and implementing frameworks that work to secure infrastructure and data and provide the optimal conditions to sustain a business’ ability to meet any regulations that they operate under.

When budgeting capital for your company’s technology, it isn’t always simple to know how much to allocate. In fact, a lot of times it can be a convoluted and troublesome experience. Our consultants spend quite a bit of time and effort working out workable budgets for our clients and today, we thought we would talk about how we come about our figures to comprehensively support a business’ technology.

There are all kinds of threats out there that can make things difficult for your business, but one of the biggest threats from this past year was ransomware. Ransomware encrypts data on the victim’s device so that it is inaccessible without the decryption key. Hackers have been successful with these extortion methods, as well as many others, yet ransomware continues to be a serious source of anxiety for businesses of all sizes and industries.