Box’s Mark Wayland on the Importance of the Content Cloud

Remote work existed long before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, now it is part of every organization, in many cases, permanently.

This fundamental change in the way we work has had a highly disruptive impact on organizations. The more distributed the workplace becomes, the more difficult the challenge of managing content becomes. Organizations continue to use file shares and other clunky content sharing systems. Remote workers are emailing sensitive documents from home offices and cafes using unsecured devices. How we communicate and collaborate is evolving, which means content management must also evolve.

I recently spoke to Mark Wayland, chief revenue officer at Box, who explained how the platform is enabling enterprise users to secure, share, and easily access content in a hybrid work environment. Highlights of my ZKast interview with Wayland, done in conjunction with eWEEK eSPEAKS, are below.

• Box repositioned its platform around the Content Cloud—a central place to collaborate, communicate, and store content both internally and externally.
• Box is a 15-year-old company that went public about six years ago.
• The initial platform centered on collaborating and storing content on the internet.
• Box evolved with the proliferation of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications.
• Governance, security, and compliance became paramount.
• Everything accelerated due to the changing nature of work during COVID-19.
• Evolution of the company/platform took place when Box introduced the Content Cloud.
• Box Content Cloud is different from platforms like Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive.
• The platforms are good for personal storage, but not collaborating around content or sharing content externally.
• In fact, many enterprises turn off external sharing in those platforms.
• Content Cloud comes with best-in-class security and governance, and it’s built around the lifecycle of content.
• Content Cloud coexists alongside personal content storage tools.

Most Significant Benefits of Content Cloud

The biggest benefits organizations get when transitioning to the Content Cloud are:

• Enhanced security. Those that have struggles with breaches, malware, and ransomware infecting documents, turn to Box Shield. It scans all documents stored in the Content Cloud for malware/ransomware.
• Changing nature of work. A typical office worker uses many apps and has difficulty collaborating around content inside the enterprise. Having a single content cloud across the organization improves the way people work.
• Managing content across apps. SaaS apps produce lots of content but aren’t designed to manage the content since it’s not their core function. Content Cloud has pre-built integrations with more than 1,500 SaaS apps. Content is centrally stored, secured, and accessible in all those apps.
• Organizations that have information scattered across multiple systems face various challenges. They have issues with security and document chain of custody.
• In the entertainment industry, files that move around between different systems and home/office computers, can get leaked and result in revenue loss.
• If an apparel company is designing a new sneaker, the information is proprietary and must also be secured as content moves around.
• A wealth management or a financial services firm cannot risk highly sensitive documents being forwarded by an employee using a mobile phone in a public place.
• Every industry needs to have a way of securely communicating and collaborating around content.
• Box has been making major investments in its platform over the last five years, focusing specifically on workflow, governance, and security.
• Box released an enhanced security offering called Shield, which is one of its most successful product launches.
• Prior to that, Box introduced a tool called Governance for content lifecycle management.
• In 2021, Box launched Sign, which allows unlimited electronic signatures (e-signatures) on files stored in the Box platform. This tool offers additional security through e-signatures, an important step in the document lifecycle.
• Box also improved the signature workflow with a tool called Relay. Workflow—everything that happens before and after the signature—is now built into the Content Cloud.
• Whether employees are working from home, in the office, or a combination of the two, Box runs seamlessly in hybrid environments.
• Box continues to improve its user interface (UI), including search capabilities. A new feature called Collections allows users to capture data outside of the typical folder structure.
• Box is using artificial intelligence (AI) to make its platform smarter by building AI capabilities—such as security and metadata—into the platform.
• Box is working on enhancing integrations with key platforms like Microsoft Office 365, Google, Salesforce, Workday, and ServiceNow, among others.
• Box will make additional product announcements at the BoxWorks Digital 2021 conference in October.

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