Box is joining forces with an IT veteran to put its cloud-service development platform to work in customized ways.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based storage and collaboration tool provider said April 21 that it is hooking up with services provider Cognizant on a deal that aims to provide custom solutions for vertical industries so they can modernize business processes.
Cognizant, compared to 11-year-old Box, is old school. The Teaneck, N.J.-based company started as a 1994 joint venture between Dun & Bradstreet and Satyam Computers to provide custom consulting and business-process outsourcing services.
It also provides commercial data to businesses on credit history, business-to-business sales and marketing, counterparty risk exposure, supply chain management, lead scoring and social identity matching.
Now that business-process services are moving swiftly from offshore to cloud service providers, such as Box, Dropbox, Salesforce and others, part of Cognizant’s business is evolving into some new territory.
The two companies will build and deliver custom solutions for specific industries that modernize business processes, drive productivity and replace legacy infrastructure by moving enterprise content to the cloud.
“Box Platform represents a transformative way for businesses in every industry to create new digital experiences for their employees, customers and partners,” said Jeetu Patel, Box’s chief strategy officer. “We’re thrilled to partner with Cognizant and leverage their deep client relationships.”
Before he joined Box about a year ago, Patel was head of EMC’s highly successful Syncplicity unit. Syncplicity’s business productivity app for mobile devices was one of the most complete apps of its kind.
Cognizant and Box will develop industry-specific solutions for customers in a variety of markets, including health care, life sciences, financial services, insurance, media and entertainment, manufacturing and logistics, and retail.
Cognizant will also be Box’s lead systems integrations partner for creating customized migration approaches for moving critical business content from legacy environments to Box. The two companies will provide training, consulting and custom services for customers.
The Box collaboration platform will enable Cognizant and its users to build flexible solutions that use enterprise-grade content management, collaboration and security capabilities.