Not Boxed In

In the face of an ongoing global health crisis which has taken over 450,000 lives and infected more than 8.5 million people worldwide, based on Worldometers’ latest figures, one of the key directives governments from all over the world introduced was universal social distancing protocols.

In effect, businesses were left with no choice but to take part in what Time Magazine considers as the “World’s Largest Work-From-Home Experiment” in order to slow down the spread of the disease.

However, even before the pandemic broke out, quite a few of the Bay Area’s biggest employers already had flexible schedules, collaboration tools and remote teams. Not only did this make the transition to remote working easier for these companies, but it also enabled many to reap the benefits of this working arrangement. In fact, a survey of more than 100 large businesses in California found that even after the social distancing rules are lifted, executives expect only 74% of their workers to go back to their respective offices while about a fifth of firms are already planning on going fully remote.

For remote working to be a success, a lot of things need to come into play. Aside from having the right set of people who can work efficiently with little to no supervision, it is extremely crucial for businesses to leverage the proper technologies. This is why businesses are focusing on finding the best platform that suits the needs of their newly remote teams.

This includes having the appropriate security software that can protect remote workers from different types of cyber attacks, the perfect application that can encourage, maintain and provide seamless communication, and the right remote storage solution that can safeguard data and provide capabilities that boost work efficiency. If Zoom and Slack are the go-to applications when it comes to video conferencing and online office communication, Box is one of the leading companies when it comes to content management and file-sharing.

Established in 2005 in Redwood City, California, Box aims to make collaboration and information sharing easy, fast and secure. Chief operating officer Stephanie Carullo further explained that in order to attain their goal of bringing people together to do amazing work, they are continuously creating an environment where users can “trust each other, work collaboratively and have a deep respect for one another.” What began as a college project in 2004 has successfully evolved into a reliable cloud content management tool that offers a wide array of capabilities.

Today, Box provides cloud backup solutions that give users 10GB of free storage space that can be accessed from anywhere in the world for files of all types, including documents, photos, videos, and presentations. They have also recently introduced new capabilities through Box Relay to make cloud processes much better for remote workers. As mentioned in a report on Box by Business Wire, these new features include a new library that boasts pre-built templates, an integration function with File Request, and additional multi-file support.

The pre-built templates are patterned on some of the common workflows that every department, such as sales, marketing, HR, legal and finance, use, will not only make it easier for users to modify workflow steps and add comments to related content, but also allow them to quickly include the right collaborators and assign tasks. On the other hand, the File Request integration will translate to more streamlined workflows, from content submission to automated downstream processes. To make things even better, the additional multi-support function will enable users to compile multiple pieces of content into one entity for easier review and approval. The new features are also included in Box Relay with no extra charge.

With companies such as Box that truly understand the challenges that remote work poses, and go out of their way to resolve them, remote working will surely become a viable work arrangement option for both small and big enterprises. To keep yourself updated with the latest happenings in the sunny land of California, explore more tech news from the California Business Journal.