Box Review

Product:
Vendor:
Founded:
Headquarters:

Box
Box
2005
Redwood City, CA

Ownership
Customers:
Deployment Model:
Free Trial:

Public
74,000+
Cloud
Yes

Box At A Glance

Good: Capable of sharing large files, scalable pricing plans (including free Personal plan for single users), strong emphasis on security.

Bad: Limited multimedia file sharing and viewing capability, managing multiple large files can be overwhelming, no LAN syncing.

Bottom Line: Easy-to-use content management solution that is secure and scalable.

Product Overview

Box is a Content Management Solution designed for secure sharing of documents, files, and other content at anytime, anywhere.

The system places a strong emphasis on security, especially with collaboration. For instance, a user or administrator can protect their shared links via passwords set with an expiration date. Or, they can view the times and frequencies of when specific content is viewed or edited. Box also allows users to share content outside of the company (i.e. clients or other partners), no matter what device they use.

Box is accessible via the web, mobile devices, and as a desktop application. Not only does Box work with iPhone/iPad and Android devices, but also with Windows and Blackberry phones. Users can synchronize Web Box content with their desktops, as well as edit and share Box content via Microsoft Office and Google Drive applications.

Features

Box offers these following features:

Mobile access
Integration with other applications (depending on pricing plan selected) such as: Microsoft Office, Google, Salesforce, NetSuite, Jive, DocuSign, and OneCloud mobile app; can also integrate with Business Intelligence solutions
Version control
Ability to add / edit multiple users / invite-only collaboration
Editing documents
Workflow automation (shorter review cycles, repeatable processes, automatic publication of approved files/tasks)
Box Notes functionality for project management tasks, such as status updates and meeting notes
Custom branding (i.e. company logo)
Global compliance standards, such as HIPAA, HITECH, and ISO 27001

As Box strongly emphasizes security, we list these following security features:

Within mobile devices: password enforcement, multi-factor authentication enforcement, restrict offline access
Statistics reporting by file/user (i.e. frequency of file being accessed)
Device pinning
Audit logs
Security automations
Ability to track user names, email and IP addresses
Alerts sent when unusual download/upload activity is detected
Seven different permissions to assign users (i.e. view only, upload only, editor, etc)

In January 2017, Box has upgraded its Box Notes, a collaboration tool for sharing notes. Some of the upgrades include the ability to create up to 19 keyboard shortcuts to find notes faster and a desktop application for PCs and Macs.

In August 2017, Box has introduced a new intelligent image recognition tool that helps companies organize and get actionable insights from any images they upload to Box. Box uses Google Cloud Vision, a machine-learning tool that automatically detects any objects or text within the image and adds metadata to them.

Document Storage?
Simultaneous User Collaboration?
Workflow Management?
Version Control?
On-Premise Hosting Option?
Imaging?
Mobile?

Target Market

Box targets many industries such as healthcare, legal, education, construction, government, manufacturing, and retail. It provides solutions that are industry-specific. We’ve listed ten of its customers below:

AstraZeneca
Autotrader
Chevron
General Electric
GSK

Lilly
Nationwide
P&G
Sundance Institute
Whirlpool

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Implementation/Integration

For users that want the Personal plan, they merely sign up via Box’s website. However, the other plans allow companies to start a free trial before purchasing (except in the case of the Enterprise plan, which requires contact with Box’s sales team). Box also offers an Enterprise Licensing Agreement that covers consulting services, Premier support, and a dedicated Customer Success Manager to aid companies in solution deployment.

Box’s Consulting services cover integrating its solution with existing systems and migrating existing content.

The Box Education program includes online training courses on most week days. Some courses are free, while others cost from $25 to $125. Course topics include file sharing, essentials of using Box, and content migration.

Customer Service & Support

Customer support consists of Box’s Help Center and Community forums to aid users in finding answers to troubleshooting and other questions. Users can also participate in self-paced training and put in support requests via the Help Center. Support is also available via phone, chat, or email.

Box’s Premier Support program aims to help users by proving custom help desk training, priority escalation on requests, and 24/7 on-call engineering support.

Pricing

Box is available in five different pricing plans:

Individual – Ideal for users for either inside or outside the office (sharing content with family or friends, for example), the Personal plan is free and available for single users only. The plan offers 10GB storage with a maximum of 250MB of size upload. As expected, the features are basic – users can access Box via mobile devices, sync with their desktops, edit documents, and use search functions. Secure features include SSL and at-rest encryption, two-factor authentication, and secure sharing. Users can upgrade to the Personal Pro for $10 a month for a 100GB of storage and uploads of up to 5GB.
Starter – At just $5 per user per month, this plan accommodates at the minimum of three users up to a maximum of ten users. There is a maximum 100GB storage capacity and 2GB file size. In addition to the features in the Personal plan, the Starter plans include access permissions (i.e. the ability to view and save up to 25 versions of a document), the ability to add users, and MDM (mobile device management) integration.
Business – The Business plan is Box’s most popular plan. With the price of $15 per user per month, it gives companies unlimited storage and up to 5GB file size sharing capacity. It is available for a minimum of three users. The Business plan offers more features, such as up to 50 versions of a file/document to save, the ability to add/manage bulk users, granular/user statistics, device pining, audit logs, and the ability to integrate with the Active Directory/Single-Sign-On interface.
Enterprise – The Enterprise plan is customized to a company’s needs. Like the Business plan, it includes unlimited storage and up to 5GB file size sharing capacity. Enterprise offers additional features, such as custom admin roles, email compliance archiving, security reports, password enforcement and restriction of offline access, and multi-factor authentication enforcement. Please contact Box for pricing.

Shortcomings

Some users have reported that managing large or multiple files can get overwhelming. For instance, if multiple versions of a file is spread across folders, all versions do not get updated automatically – the user would have to update each version manually.

Also, there is a limit on sharing capabilities of multimedia files (i.e. videos or images), and LAN syncing is not supported.

Screenshots

About

Box was established in 2005 to help companies of all sizes manage their content and share files from anywhere. To date, Box has over 41 million users in 74,000 organizations worldwide, as well as locations in Europe and Asia.

Box has received numerous accolades over the years, including Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing, FastCompany’s 2014 Most Innovative Companies, and Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 Winner for three years consecutively.

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