The FINANCIAL — IBM and Box on June 24 announced a global partnership that will combine the best-in-class technologies and resources of both companies to transform work in the cloud.
Together, the companies plan to integrate their existing products and services and develop new, innovative solutions targeted across industries and professions ranging from medical teams working on complex cases to individuals negotiating consumer loans by mobile phone to engineers and researchers identifying patterns in patents, reports and academic journals, according to IBM.
As companies increasingly seek simple, secure collaboration solutions that tap into local data and have global reach, this strategic alliance brings together Box’s industry-leading cloud content collaboration platform with IBM Analytics and Social solutions, IBM Security technologies and the global footprint of the IBM Cloud. The two companies will jointly deliver these solutions to market internationally, and IBM will also enable builders and developers to integrate Box APIs into enterprise apps and web services.
“Today’s digital enterprises demand world-class technologies that transform how their organizations operate both internally and externally,” said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box. “This extensive alliance between Box and IBM opens up an exciting opportunity for both companies to reach new markets and deliver unified solutions and services that can redefine industries, advance secure collaboration and revolutionize enterprise mobility.”
“This partnership will transform the way work is done in industries and professions that shape our experience every day. The impact will be felt by experts and professionals in industries such as healthcare, financial services, law, and engineering who are overwhelmed by today’s digital data and seek better solutions to manage large volumes of information more intelligently and securely,” said Bob Picciano, senior vice president, IBM Analytics. “The integration of IBM and Box technologies, combined with our global cloud capabilities and the ability to enrich content with analytics, will help unlock actionable insights for use across the enterprise.”
IBM and Box will partner in three key areas:
Transformation of Enterprise Work
Content Management: Box will integrate IBM industry-leading enterprise content management including content capture, extraction, analytics, case management and governance.
Watson Analytics: IBM and Box will collaborate to bring in-depth enterprise insights using IBM Watson Analytics to content stored in Box.
Social Collaboration Solutions: IBM and Box will collaborate to integrate Box capabilities into IBM Verse and IBM Connections, the company’s business email solution and social collaboration platform.
International Reach and Security
Enterprise Cloud: Box will enable joint customers to store their content on the IBM Cloud. The IBM Cloud provides data resiliency, data privacy and data localization, a key consideration for international customers who want the option to keep their data in country.
Specialized Enterprise Consulting: The partnership will draw upon the specialized Enterprise Content Management skills of IBM Global Business Services professionals to help clients connect or integrate Box capabilities with existing data and systems.
Enterprise Security: Box will expand on its enterprise security offerings with IBM security technologies for threat detection, anomaly identification, mobile device management and identity protection.
New Content Rich Apps and Solutions
Mobile Apps for Industries: Box and IBM will jointly develop content management solutions and incorporate Box technology into select IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps.
Custom App Development: IBM will enable enterprise developers to integrate Box APIs on the IBM Bluemix developer cloud to help build content rich web and mobile apps.
By leveraging the power of the cloud, this comprehensive partnership will transform collaboration and the ability to gain actionable insights across a variety of industries. For example, IBM and Box can offer more streamlined collaboration between patients and physicians for hospitals and healthcare providers in a security-rich environment. A hospital can share test results with patients, while maintaining a formal review with the physicians and nurses coordinating patient care.
IBM and Box also plan to help the world’s leading retailers manage their omni channel experiences. For example, a fashion retailer will be able to deliver a consistent brand experience that extends to all physical and e-commerce stores by sharing advertising images, promotional materials and product lines easily through any device, while maintaining control of merchandising consistency, pricing and packaging across all channels.
An insurance underwriter will be able to capture and review inspection reports while mobile, to expedite the approval process; a field worker can access up-to-date manuals to solve problems in real time, while documenting work in a central location to drive collaborative scheduling and planning.
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