In June 2015, IBM and Box announced a strategic partnership to deliver new capabilities and solutions by bringing together Box’s modern content management and collaboration platform with the global footprint of the IBM Cloud. Today, the two companies announced Box Relay, a new workflow solution that will be available natively in Box.
The offering, according to an official release, will make it easy for any employee in a business to build, track and manage custom or pre-built workflows that leverage all of the security, compliance and collaboration features of Box.
“Workflow in the enterprise is broken – complex, fragmented software and manual processes are getting in the way of productivity,” said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box.
“The all new Box is a place where all of your work comes together. Box Relay delivers on this vision by providing anyone with an easy way to create, track and manage routine processes without ever having to leave Box. Box Relay is enterprise workflow made simple.”
Inhi Cho Suh, General Manager, Collaboration Solutions, IBM Analytics, said, “This first joint solution from IBM and Box enables businesses to create a simpler digital workflow across different functions to help reduce the time spent managing projects and boost team productivity. This is possible by combining the power of IBM Cloud with Box’s leading content management platform.”
Box Relay has been built on IBM’s Cloud platform, Bluemix. The two companies believe that Box Relay will fulfill functionalities like automating employee onboarding and training, streamline the budget process, or approve assets and contracts and is designed to:
Reduce IT dependency and empower end users
Make processes seamless across the ‘extended enterprise’: Box Relay will allow workflows to extend securely between both internal and external teams. Customers, vendors or partners can be assigned tasks, so the process does not break down when content flows across or between organizations.
Reduce the time people spend managing their projects: A dashboard provides real-time visibility, email notifications that alert users when items are assigned and overdue, and an audit trail that provides transparency on every action taken.
Leverage all the benefits of Box: Users will be able to edit content that is automatically saved back to Box, leveraging integrations including, Office 365, Adobe and Salesforce.
Box Relay will be available for an additional fee to Box business users. It is scheduled to be released in beta during Q4, with general availability the first half of next year.