Google Cloud and Box announce strategic partnership

Google Cloud and Box, Inc., a cloud content management company, have today announced a strategic partnership with a goal to create better experiences for enterprises using G Suite with Box – especially while remote working in the cloud.

As part of the new partnership, Box will leverage Google Cloud as a key provider for data storage in its international operations. The two companies will also collaborate on machine learning capabilities, integrating their respective technologies to deliver Google Cloud's Document AI as part of the Box Skills Kit.

The news comes after years of collaboration between the two companies, who jointly announced in December 2018 a preliminary integration between Box and Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. Today's announcement is a culmination of that initial collaboration, the companies say.

The companies hope to improve intelligent data processing with this integration, and have revealed that they are currently exploring further integrations to bolster intelligent security.

"We're in the middle of a major transformation in how business gets done," Box co-founder and chief executive officer Aaron Levie.

"The ability to work from anywhere, leverage global talent and virtual teams, and to collaborate securely with colleagues, partners, and customers is the 'new normal' for every business.

"Google Cloud is an incredibly important partner as we innovate and scale to bring secure collaboration to our customers globally, and we're excited to continue making the combination of Box and G Suite as intuitive and seamless as possible for our customers."

As part of the expanded partnership, Box now supports Google Cloud Identity, and plans to use this to build further single sign-on (SSO) enhancements later this year, with a goal of streamlining customer identity configurations.

Similarly, Box has announced an intention to integrate support for Google Authenticator into its service.

Since their initial integration in 2018, Box and Google Cloud have taken several steps to further integrate Box and G Suite, including:

• A sharing experience natively within G Suite to simplify sharing Google files stored in Box, enabling customers to keep the same access settings and privacy controls they have in Box, as well as to easily navigate their files and folders.
• Reciprocal transfer for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides between Box and Google Drive allowing customers to move their content wherever they choose while maintaining the Google file formats.
• Box is developing a new G Suite Add-on to enable a 'save to Box' experience for G Suite, allowing customers the ability to start a document within their G Suite environment and save back to Box.

"We are excited to extend our partnership with Box as a key global cloud infrastructure partner, and to enable more seamless integrations between Box and G Suite environments," says Google Cloud chief execuitive officer Thomas Kurian.

"By building on Google Cloud and continuing to invest in the integration between Box and G Suite, we believe we can provide optimal experiences for our joint customers and for remote teams.