BlackCSI Blog

Every organization relies on its IT to be available when needed. Some businesses can’t function at all without them. However, if a business isn’t keeping up with the management and maintenance of its IT, it can lead to downtime. Today, we’ll explore proactive IT maintenance strategies and how they help businesses minimize downtime in various ways.

Effective IT management is integral to modern business operations. While it can be complex and demanding, a well-executed IT strategy can bring immense benefits. Let's explore some common pitfalls that can lead to uncontrolled technology budgets.

The Internet has become an indispensable part of our lives. Those who have been online since the mid-90s have witnessed a dramatic transformation in how we use it. Today's lightning-fast, always-on connectivity has replaced yesteryear's slow, dial-up connections. Let's explore how Internet speeds have evolved over the past three decades.

Leading MTSP Proactively Conducts Website Audits to Enhance Cybersecurity

HARRISBURG, PA – September 13, 2024 – BlackCSI, a leading Managed Technology Services Provider (MTSP), is taking proactive steps to secure its customers' networks by identifying and addressing vulnerabilities on their websites. As businesses increasingly rely on their online presence, ensuring the security and compliance of their websites has become crucial. BlackCSI's comprehensive website audits provide clients with the peace of mind that their online platforms are secure, compliant, and optimized for performance.

If the Internet has made one thing in popular culture abundantly clear, nostalgia is a potent force. It makes us look back on our formative years to experiences that shaped who we are today. One such example is music, but what would you say if we told you that this music could disappear forever?

Running a small business often involves big dreams of rapid growth and immediate success. However, keeping expectations realistic is essential to achieving steady progress. In today’s blog, we’ll explore how managers and entrepreneurs can set achievable goals and maintain balance in their businesses.

Cloud computing is one of the most powerful technologies that has emerged over the past few decades. It has shifted how individuals and companies access resources, manage data, and store information. With the opportunities to scale online vastly expanding, businesses that want to make the most of their technology can turn to the cloud to save money and improve operations.

Business is not always a good time. There are times when things are going well, and then one problem pops up that leads to other problems, opening what seems to be an endless cycle of issues that you need to deal with. Some of these problems seem like they are catastrophic. While it may seem impossible, keeping a positive frame of mind can make all the difference when facing a river of problems. Today, we’ll go through a few things you can do to keep a positive frame of mind when things seem to be falling apart right in front of you.

With AI changing the way we work forever, it was only a matter of time before it infiltrated the mobile market. Nowadays, smartphones and tablets are smarter and more powerful than ever, all through the use of AI. Let’s look at the trends in mobile AI usage and how your business can leverage it to your advantage.

Spreadsheets are handy tools for businesses, although it can become pretty easy to lose track of where and what certain data is as they grow… not to mention a pain to keep referencing back to as needed.

However, there’s an easy workaround: naming the cells of your spreadsheet.

All businesses have one key vulnerability that cybersecurity threats exploit: their employees. Your business has this vulnerability, too, even if you haven’t considered it. Just like any vulnerability, however, there is a patch, and it comes in the form of education. With an appropriate knowledge base, your team can effectively become a human firewall against any potential threat.

Many business owners struggle with technology that doesn’t meet their needs. We often hear from companies disappointed with their technology investments because they lack the right tools.

Choosing the right technology is vital for business success. In today’s blog, we offer four key tips to help you make informed decisions.

Collaboration is essential for modern business functionality, which often means that your team members will need to share files of all sizes. The trouble is that larger files have historically been a pain to share.

Fortunately, thanks to technology, there are now simple ways to share larger files with your team members. Let’s review them together.

Handling time calculations in a spreadsheet can often feel frustrating—especially when you’re just trying to add them up. Luckily, both Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets have built-in functions specifically designed for this purpose, making the process more manageable.

Here’s a quick guide to help you get started, no matter which spreadsheet program you use.

Mobile malware might not have a lot of attention on it, but it can be a significant problem for organizations that rely on smartphones. This goes double for small businesses that typically don’t have the large teams and big budgets for their mobile strategies that include devices, data and phone plans, and security controls. Today, we’ll look at mobile malware and how an organization with a limited budget can keep it from impacting its business.

Leading Managed Technology Services Provider (MTSP) Is at the Forefront of Protecting the Region’s Organizations

HARRISBURG, PA – August 21, 2024 – BlackCSI, a leading managed technology services provider (MTSP), proudly announced the deployment of advanced vulnerability management technology designed to enhance the security and resilience of customer IT networks. This new initiative underscores BlackCSI’s commitment to safeguarding the region’s organizations against evolving cyber threats.

Technology has empowered us to achieve more than ever, but with that progress comes increased expectations for everyone. This means greater productivity, and the pressure to perform can be relentless at times, making it crucial to find efficient ways to manage our tasks. Unfortunately, there is a natural limit to how much we can accomplish, and certain challenges can push us to that limit faster. Today, we want to explore two of the most common productivity pitfalls.

Remote work has been a mainstay in most businesses’ standard operating procedures in at least some capacity, but it opens up a nasty can of worms regarding cybersecurity. If cybersecurity is not your top priority, and you have remote or hybrid employees, we need to have a talk—and probably a hard one.

Password best practices (and common sense, if we’re being honest) tell us to always use a strong password for every account we have. This is because, unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to crack a weak one anymore. A bit of software on a standard computer can crack millions of passwords in a matter of seconds… so the more complex and randomized a password, the better and more secure it will be.

However, this can also make it a real challenge to create and then memorize sufficiently complex passwords. To help, we wanted to share a fun trick.

Businesses today need to worry about people outside their business trying to break into their network and steal their data. Unfortunately, that’s not the only direction that theft can come from. In this week’s blog, we’ll take a look at the types of technology theft you need to be aware of inside of your company and what you can do about it.