Box is making changes that he hopes will help workers better find, share and use the data and information they need to stay productive. the firm has just unveiled various evolutions and improvements to its solutions.
Content management company Box unveiled a series of features and integrations this week to improve employee collaboration in a secure manner. According to Diego Dugatkin, recently appointed Chief Product Officer of Box, the move comes as companies move away from paper-based processes and embrace digitized assets. As a result, Box seeks to protect digital content, strengthen collaboration and improve workflows in integrated applications, he said. “Everything we offer is focused on maintaining security compliance and governance, while expanding with this feature set. As we start to see some offices reopen, we see the need to maintain this level of collaboration. [vu au cours des 18 derniers mois] ».
The announcements made at Boxworks 2021 fall into three main areas: security, collaboration, and workflow and application integration. Raul Castanon, senior employee productivity and collaboration analyst at 451 Research S&P Global Market intelligence, said the actions Box is taking are in line with recent trends in productivity and the transition to a hybrid workplace. According to research firm 451 Research, the main factors in improving employee productivity are: finding ways to better organize, plan and prioritize work; seek to reduce the types of routine and repetitive tasks; and be able to store, find and share information more easily. “These factors underscore the need for communication-driven workflows and integrations between collaboration and content management applications; Box’s recent announcements show that this is the direction it is taking, ”said Raul Castanon.
Security Updates
In terms of security, Box said customers using Box Shield should see higher malware detection rates and fewer false positives. According to Diego Dugatkin, this security solution already scans more than 48 billion files per year, but with reported cases of ransomware increasing by 300% in the first half of 2021, Box has decided to better protect the content of its customers. “The latest in-depth malware analysis capabilities in Box Shield combat these ransomware attacks,” he said. “What makes Box’s approach different is that it adds deep learning technology to the traditional hash-based approach to malware detection.”
Box Shield should be able to recognize malicious features inside content in near real time. It will also extend malware detection to active content in Box and scan external content accessed by managed users. Administrators will also be permitted to occasionally override threat verdicts for low-risk content to avoid disrupting business workflows.
Collaboration and workflow
With a view to collaboration and workflow, Box unveiled a final version of Box Notes to improve internal and external collaboration. It simplifies the organization of content and navigation within a note, with features such as reminder boxes to highlight content, the ability to include tables of contents, links to anchor and online cursors to track changes in real time. Code blocks are designed to simplify the process of technical collaboration, with security and control features such as granular permissions and access statistics built into Box Content Cloud.
According to Mr. Dugatkin, all of these features can be used by all teams. Marketing teams can create project plans to track work progress, or create launch announcements by collaborating in real time with internal teams and external partner agencies; sales teams can use the platform to develop scripts and email templates; and recruiting teams can collect interview feedback. “Each department can take advantage of [Box Notes] to collaborate, ”he said.
An app suitable for e-signature
Box also plans to launch a revamped mobile app, with an updated capture mode for iOS and Android devices and optical character recognition (OCR) technology that turns scanned documents into searchable PDFs with multilingual support. These features integrate with Box’s electronic signature feature, Box Sign, announced last July. The company said it was already being used to support digital transactions such as employee onboarding, supplier contracts, and purchase orders. This feature allows users to send documents for electronic signature directly from Box to anyone, including people without Box accounts, and supports over 15 languages.
The latest security features include SMS signatory authentication, password protection of documents sent for signature, and compliance with HIPAA, SOC, ISO and FedRAMP requirements. The Sign functionality in the Box for Salesforce integration also allows customers to generate and send NDAs, contracts, and other documents directly from Salesforce. The solution is expected to be available this month to all customers in the US and Canada on Business and Enterprise plans at no additional cost. Its deployment will continue globally in the coming months.
Application integrations
Box currently offers integrations with more than 1,400 applications, including Salesforce, Okta, and Webex. With remote work driving an increased need for collaboration, the publisher is rolling out improved integrations with three big names in collaboration: Microsoft Teams, Slack and Zoom. Integrations with Office and Teams include the ability to co-author in real time across Office’s desktop and mobile apps – including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – with all changes automatically saved to Box, allowing users collaborate simultaneously on documents on the desktop, web and mobile devices. Customers will also be able to use Box as the default storage option in Teams, with IT admins having more granular options at the individual, group and organizational levels. For Slack, the publisher offers a deeper integration that allows users to upload files directly to Box through the Slack interface. Customers continue to benefit from Box’s content security and compliance, even when files are uploaded through Slack. The Box for Zoom app allows customers to access their content without having to leave Zoom. They can also browse, preview and share Box files directly from Zoom, whether the meeting is active or not.
According to Raul Castanon, integrations with Teams, Slack and Zoom highlight the evolution of communications and collaboration in a post-pandemic working environment, where asynchronous and real-time communications-based workflows gain relevance. . “More than a threat to communication and collaboration service providers, these integrations represent an opportunity for them to gain relevance by providing businesses with the means to deploy communication-based workflows,” he said. he adds. “With the enhancements to Sign and Relay, these added features further position Box as a smart content hub for the workspace.”
