October 2019 Summaries

BoxWorks19, held at Moscone Center in San Francisco, was a dynamic and enlightening event attended by over 4,000 community members, including more than 450 nonprofit and social impact leaders who received full scholarships. The event, organized by Box and Box.org, emphasized significant digital and capacity-building advancements for nonprofits, promising substantial social impact. Throughout the two-day conference, attendees engaged in various activities such as the Social Impact Clubhouse, networking with peers, and attending informative sessions and presentations. The event also facilitated over $95K in donations to NetHope, supporting their initiatives to enhance the digital capabilities of nonprofits. Key partnerships and contributions from CEOs and companies like Okta, PagerDuty, Zoom, and Slack were highlighted, alongside special collaborative sessions and training opportunities designed to empower nonprofit leaders. BoxWorks19 was marked by a spirit of collaboration, learning, and celebration, setting a positive tone for future events.

Box Shield, now generally available, is a cloud-native security solution designed to prevent data breaches and reduce risk by providing real-time data leakage prevention and intelligent threat detection. It addresses the needs of various industries, such as financial services, life sciences, and governmental agencies, to safeguard sensitive content without disrupting user experience. By leveraging machine learning and contextual insights, Box Shield delivers adaptive content controls and anomaly detection directly around the content, allowing organizations to classify critical data and implement granular access policies. It empowers security teams with timely alerts on suspicious behavior and integrates seamlessly with existing security tools like SIEM and CASB solutions. The solution has received positive feedback from early beta customers, such as the International Rescue Committee, for its ability to enhance data protection and compliance efforts while maintaining productivity. A partnership with Splunk enhances its threat detection capabilities, solidifying Box Shield as a customizable, user-friendly security offering distinct from traditional bolt-on solutions.

BoxWorks 2019 Day 1 featured a series of impactful keynotes and announcements, highlighting collaborations and integrations aimed at enhancing digital transformation, security, and workflow efficiency. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty discussed the importance of changing work processes to transform companies, while the partnership between Box and IBM was expanded to include new integrations such as IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog InstaScan and plans for IBM X-Force and IBM QRadar with Box Shield. Splunk's CTO, Tim Tully, emphasized machine learning's role in seamless experiences, with a new integration linking Box Shield and Splunk's security capabilities. The event also introduced advanced features to Box Relay for streamlined workflows, and Box's Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel announced an expanded partnership with Adobe, allowing PDF editing directly from Box. The day concluded with a keynote from acclaimed director Ryan Coogler, who shared insights from his career and experiences directing Black Panther.

At BoxWorks 2019, Box introduced several advancements aimed at enhancing cloud content management to accommodate modern work needs, focusing on security, collaboration, and seamless integration across various applications. Key updates include enhancements to Box Shield, which offers advanced content security controls and threat detection to prevent data leakage and detect potential threats, and Box Relay, which facilitates streamlined, no-code workflows for business processes such as document reviews and employee onboarding. Additionally, Box previewed improved integrations with applications like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Adobe, enabling more secure and efficient collaboration with digital documents. These integrations, alongside new collaborations with IBM on data protection and compliance, aim to provide users with the flexibility to work securely across multiple platforms and devices. Box Shield will be generally available by October 29, 2019, while the new integrations and features will be rolled out later in the year, with further insights available at the upcoming Box Virtual Summit.

Businesses are increasingly handling large volumes of data, necessitating robust data protection solutions, and the IBM and Box partnership has been addressing this need by enhancing cloud benefits while ensuring security and control. The recent announcement of new and extended integrations aims to bolster data protection, governance, and compliance, featuring a collaboration between Box and IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog InstaScan to expedite identification and remediation of sensitive data for compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Additionally, the integration of IBM X-Force and IBM QRadar with Box Shield is designed to enhance data security by providing advanced threat intelligence, faster detection, and improved response to security incidents. The partnership also highlights the role of IBM Cloud Identity in facilitating secure access to Box and maintaining a Zero Trust security model. These efforts complement existing initiatives like Box Zones for data residency, advanced automation with Box Platform and Skills, and leveraging IBM Cloud Object Storage for infrastructure needs.

Box and Adobe are enhancing their collaboration by introducing a deeper integration of Adobe Acrobat tools within Box, enabling users to efficiently handle PDF-centric tasks directly from the cloud. This integration will allow users to access, modify, organize, and sign PDFs without the need for downloading files, thus ensuring secure and seamless workflows across devices. The collaboration, which began in 2016, aims to address the challenges faced by modern enterprises by providing powerful tools for digital document management, eliminating version control issues, and facilitating critical processes like contract signing and product design collaboration. The new features will enable the creation of high-quality PDFs, combining various file types, exporting PDFs to editable formats, and capturing e-signature activities, all while maintaining secure collaboration. This development is part of Box and Adobe’s ongoing commitment to support the evolving needs of the workforce with future integrations planned for both web and mobile users. The new integrations are expected to be available next year.