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Google and enterprise file hosting service Box have entered into a product integration partnership to enable what they described as a seamless cloud collaboration experience for users of their products.
Under the partnership, Box will integrate its cloud file storage technology with Google Docs and Google Springboard, Google’s recently launched enterprise search technology.
The integration with Google Docs will let users create, collaborate and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations in Google Docs directly from Box. It will enable Box to serve as a third-party repository for Docs, Slides and Sheets, Nan Boden, Google’s head of global technology partners, wrote on the company’s Google for Work blog this week.
The Google Docs and Box integration combines Google’s robust real-time collaboration and editing capabilities with Box’s capabilities in areas such as workflow automation, task management, real-time alerting and security, Box said in a press statement of its own.
Box’s integration with Springboard, meanwhile, will let users search for and find content hosted in Box, Gmail, Drive or Google Doc, Boden said. The integration will allow Box users to quickly find content via Springboard that is useful and actionable and comes with a set of relevant recommendations, Box added in its statement.
The two companies announced the partnership at the BoxWorks 2016 conference in San Francisco this week.
The “new, simple and powerful connections between Box, Google Docs, and Google Springboard are just the beginning of how Box and Google can power better ways to work in the cloud,” Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levine said in the statement announcing the initiative. The Box-Google combination should enable better productivity and collaboration in the cloud, he said.
Both companies claim thousands of organizations use their respective cloud collaboration and productivity suites. Many of them, including large organizations such as Broadcom, Whirlpool and Intuit, use both—Box for secure content management and Docs for collaboration and productivity.
Diane Greene, senior vice president of Google’s cloud businesses, described the partnership with Box as giving enterprise customers greater flexibility in their choice of cloud collaboration and productivity tools. It addresses a growing need for businesses that are working with Google to move enterprise workloads to the cloud, she said.
For Box, the partnership with Google is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to give its users more options for collaborating across multiple cloud platforms. The company, for instance, already has a similar arrangement with Microsoft for integrating its technology with Microsoft’s products. Box has been integrated with Office 365 and Outlook for iPhone and iPad for some time now. Earlier this year, the company announced Box integration with Office for iOS, Outlook.com and Office Online.