May 2018 Summaries

The narrative discusses improvements made to Box's 'full' indexer, a system designed to create a search index by reading documents from an HBase table and inserting them into a Solr index. Initially, all mapreduce jobs communicated with all shards, which sometimes led to bottlenecks when Solr's in-memory structures flushed to file, causing temporary slowdowns. To address this, the author first attempted to increase the worker pool to prevent workers from being stuck on slow shards, but this was insufficient. A subsequent strategy involved creating separate queues and workers for each shard within each mapper, which significantly improved system flow by allowing other shards to continue processing even if one was slow. While this new model enhanced performance—doubling the number of reads per second and enabling the indexing of nearly 50 billion documents in less than two days—it also introduced drawbacks, such as the lack of communication between workers targeting the same shard and increased memory demands that could limit scalability. A more scalable solution would involve a queue between mappers and Solr shards, with shard-specific clients to manage document indexing.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is considered a pivotal change in data privacy legislation within the European Union, has arrived, and while many companies are still working towards full compliance, Box is positioned to assist its customers in this transition. Box has been independently reviewed for its privacy and cloud data protection practices, showcasing its readiness through Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs), C5, and TCDP certifications. Box's offerings, such as Box Zones for local data storage and simple contractual agreements for GDPR compliance, are designed to help businesses demonstrate adequate due diligence and meet regulatory requirements. The company provides tools to aid with GDPR obligations, such as the Right to Be Forgotten and information transparency, empowering users to manage content relevance and access usage logs. Additionally, Box offers resources like webinars and guides to further facilitate GDPR readiness for its customers.

Box Zones, introduced by Box in 2016, has been enhanced with multizone support, allowing organizations to store and collaborate on data across any of Box's seven global Zones from a single instance. This development is particularly significant in the context of regulations like GDPR, as it provides businesses with the flexibility to assign data storage locations based on user location, thereby addressing data residency and compliance requirements. The multizone feature ensures that multinational organizations can manage data securely and efficiently while maintaining a seamless collaboration experience for users. With Zones available in regions including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and others, enterprises gain enhanced control over data residency and can easily adapt to changing needs without disrupting access. This innovation allows global organizations to meet stringent regulatory standards while fostering productivity and transparency through real-time reporting and centralized data management.

The enterprise content management (ECM) landscape is shifting from traditional on-premise systems to cloud-based platforms, emphasizing the need for open, nimble solutions that enhance customer engagement and collaboration. This evolution is driven by the necessity of having personalized, secure, and unified content across applications and stakeholders, despite many companies still operating with IT models focused on back-office efficiency. The transition to cloud content management offers improved flexibility and scalability, allowing for more targeted applications that integrate seamlessly with other tools. Innovations in ECM are expected to leverage automation and artificial intelligence to address historical challenges, such as large-scale content categorization and automated security, while fostering greater collaboration and efficiency. The integration of intelligent content services from major cloud providers is already demonstrating potential in tasks like automated image tagging and language translation. The future of ECM anticipates an increased role for automation in content creation and management, with content becoming more componentized and reusable, and the cloud enabling indefinite content storage and global collaboration.

"Bring Your _______ Self to Work" is a key aspect of Box's inclusive culture, emphasizing the diverse backgrounds of its employees and encouraging individuality. Natasha Srinivasan, a Corporate Account Executive based in San Francisco, shares her journey and experiences working at Box, highlighting her role in reshaping clients' approaches to cloud content management and securing significant deals, such as one with a global consulting firm that expanded their usage of Box's Governance and Relay features. She recounts the high point of her career as closing a substantial quarter in January 2018, attributing her success to career development and support from her managers. Natasha also praises Box for its efficiency and transformative impact on her work, recalling her initial challenge managing the Central/MW territory and a memorable encounter with co-founder Aaron Levie during her interview process.

In collaboration with Google's G Suite, Box introduced the Box for Hangouts Chat bot, enhancing cloud-based productivity by integrating Box's secure content management with Google's productivity apps. This integration allows users to efficiently search and access Box files directly within Hangouts Chat, making it easier for employees to focus on meaningful work rather than file management. The partnership ensures that content collaborated on within Hangouts Chat benefits from Box's enterprise-grade security and compliance features. By serving as a central cloud content management platform, Box provides robust security controls, encryption key management with Box KeySafe, compliance with data residency requirements via Box Zones, and enforcement of data retention policies through Box Governance. This initiative reflects Box's commitment to creating a cohesive work environment where content flows seamlessly across various tools, and they encourage users to visit their Community Site or Google's help center for further details on installation and use.

In response to evolving work dynamics and the increased complexity of security and compliance in a connected global business environment, a new initiative called the Future of Work Council has been established, co-hosted by Box, Workplace by Facebook, and Okta. This council brings together senior IT and HR leaders from diverse industries, including prominent enterprises such as American Express, NIKE, and Pfizer, to explore and develop innovative strategies for the digital workplace. The group aims to rethink organizational culture, skills, and technology to better embrace the digital age, focusing on collaboration, agility, and leveraging human capital for competitive advantage. The council's first meeting, featuring industry and academic experts, is set to take place at the headquarters of Box in Redwood City, CA, and Facebook in Menlo Park, CA.

The Box team attended Microsoft Build 2018 in Seattle to showcase their integration with Microsoft technologies, highlighting how developers can leverage Box in combination with Microsoft's IoT, VR, AI, and cloud enterprise solutions. At the event, Box demonstrated how their Box Skills framework, announced at BoxWorks 2017, utilizes Microsoft Azure's AI and machine learning tools to enhance content management by adding rich metadata to files through technologies like image labeling and speech-to-text transcription. Attendees could see demos at the Box booth or join breakout sessions to learn about using Azure AI services such as the Azure Computer Vision API and Azure Video Indexer with Box. Additionally, Box Platform APIs enable developers to build web and mobile apps that integrate with Azure's secure infrastructure and services, providing comprehensive content services and intelligent features for app development. Visitors to the Box booth could engage with Box developer evangelists and explore the possibilities of using Box and Azure to build innovative applications.

Box Relay, a workflow tool co-developed with IBM, has been adopted by various organizations to streamline and automate repetitive tasks, thereby reducing reliance on emails and spreadsheets. Designed for business users without requiring IT involvement, Relay has become particularly popular among HR and recruiting teams, who use it to enhance onboarding effectiveness and accelerate hiring cycles. By automating processes such as setting up IT accounts, coordinating training, and tracking candidate status, Relay reduces the administrative burden on HR departments and hiring managers. It also enables secure external collaboration and ensures sensitive information is protected, all while maintaining policy consistency. The tool's ability to provide clear visibility into workflows and facilitate seamless task handoffs has led to improved productivity and retention rates, as well as faster and more cost-effective hiring processes. As Box continues to develop new features for Relay, its impact on HR efficiency is expected to grow.