BlackCSI Blog

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.

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.

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).

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.

One of Google’s latest updates allows users to change many of their menus to Microsoft’s Windows 11 style, and while this might seem a bit surprising at first glance, it should come as no surprise that Google and Microsoft might work together to push both of their products. Microsoft’s Surface Duo smartphone, for example, runs Android technology, and now Chrome can be customized to the tune of Microsoft software.

Technology changes so rapidly that it can be difficult to gauge whether or not you should be upgrading right away or examining other options for the same purposes. How can you avoid investing in the wrong solution as a result of the excitement that a new idea or concept can bring? It all starts with knowing what within your organization needs to change.

There is a lot to say about having the right IT, but at some point, you have to ask if you are receiving diminishing returns on your investments. Implementing too much technology can be a very real problem, especially in terms of the software you choose to implement. Let’s take a look at some of the warning signs and see what you can do about them.

There are many different types of hacking attacks, but those targeting your computer can either be incredibly intrusive or so low-profile that you don’t even know you’ve been infected until it’s too late to do anything about it. Let’s discuss some of the telltale signs of a hack and what you should look for to prevent or identify them.

Most businesses use the Internet to conduct many of their day-to-day operations, and the most-used ways that people interact with the Internet is through web browsers. That said, there are some ways that you can make sure you are using the Internet in the most secure way possible. Here are some extra steps you can take to work toward these protections.

Cryptoassets have been on the rise, and with it has come the term “NFT.” But what is an NFT, and why does it matter what it is for a small business like yourself? Let’s examine this concept in a bit greater detail through the use of a hypothetical situation.

While it might be terrifying to imagine a scenario in which your business were to suffer a devastating event that threatened its future, you as a responsible business owner must consider any and all possibilities. If you don’t, all of the hard work and investment you have made in your company could be for naught. Technology is one aspect of your company that must be examined with intense scrutiny and prepared for with preventative measures to keep your future secure.

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) is one of the most popular productivity suites used in business today. As such, there are shortcuts available to help speed up productivity, and a lot of people simply aren’t aware of them. Today, we’ll take a peek at a couple shortcuts you may not have known of inside Google Workspace.

With the release of Windows 11 on the horizon, it is important that businesses looking to implement it start to consider not only their hardware, but their strategy to upgrade away from their current operating system. But that’s a topic for another day—we’re focused today on the folks who don’t even have Windows 10 yet and are still stuck in the days of Windows 8.1, an OS expiring in 2023. Don’t get caught unawares without a plan to upgrade.

These days, if you are not taking cybersecurity seriously, then you are waiting for something bad to happen that could potentially destroy your business for good. While the number of threats out there has increased significantly over the past couple of decades, so too has the number of powerful security options out there. In fact, one way that you can leverage these solutions to your advantage is to use “self-healing” security software, the concept for which is pretty neat.

As a business owner in a sector that is not necessarily dedicated to technology, chances are that you do not need to know everything there is to know about computer hardware. That being said, it helps to have a passable knowledge of the various hardware terms you might use on a daily basis. This will especially make it easier for you to talk to your technician or your service provider—whoever handles your technology.

Technology has enabled some of the greatest changes in the business world, so it makes sense that your company should try to implement it as needed. Unfortunately, it can be a bit confusing, especially if you have not thought about it in recent years. Thankfully, there are three pillars that can hold up a digital transformation strategy and enable change for your business. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to respond quickly and radically change operations, but despite the circumstances, productivity is still at the center of most business professionals’ minds. If we can learn more about how businesses have managed to thrive even in the face of the pandemic, we can learn more about how to succeed when things get back to “normal,” whatever that looks like, particularly in regards to technology and the role it has played over the past year and a half.

Money needs to move in order for the economy to work. Traditionally, banks are the major lending institutions, and as a result have to adhere to a myriad of regulations. To provide an equitable system that people aren’t afraid to utilize, there are a lot of checks and balances that have put in place by the bank and regulators, alike. Today, there is growth of what are called marketplace lenders (MPLs) that are changing the way people (and organizations) can access capital and it is fueled by what is referred to as FinTech, or financial technology. Today, we will take a short look at FinTech and how it is changing the way we manage, borrow, pay, see, and use money.

Uh oh - your critical business systems are acting up again, and you aren’t sure what’s causing the problem. Fortunately, you aren’t caught up in this alone. There are those that can help you, just like a doctor would if you were ill. However, instead of calling your healthcare provider, you want to call a managed services provider.

At Google I/O 2018, the latest occurrence of Google’s convention for developers, a stunning new technology was demonstrated to those in attendance. Called Google Duplex, it adds a new level of utility and capability to the Google Assistant, in that it enables the Google Assistant to make phone calls on the user’s behalf that are almost indistinguishable from human conversation.