November 12, 2024 – For years, Box has been widely recognized as a leader in secure file sharing and data collaboration. Known for its streamlined platform that enables seamless sharing, Box has expanded far beyond its roots in the past year, especially with innovations in generative AI. Today, the company takes another massive step forward, unveiling technologies that will transform how enterprises utilize their data through its latest product launches: Box AI Studio and Box Apps.
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These new offerings are more than incremental upgrades—they represent a transformative shift in Box’s mission and capabilities. No longer just a platform for secure file storage, Box is now empowering organizations to build intelligent, agent-driven workflows and customizable no-code applications within their own environments. At the core of this evolution is Box’s ambition to offer enterprise-ready AI solutions that enable companies to unlock unprecedented value from their content.
Building Out Infrastructure for Agentic AI
Box’s journey into AI began in May 2023 with the introduction of Box AI. Initially, the platform provided AI-driven insights to help users analyze and understand data more effectively. Since then, Box has integrated with Microsoft 365 Copilot and created specialized AI hubs for curated searches. However, with today’s announcements, Box is moving beyond passive data querying. The new Box AI Studio and Box Apps solutions offer enterprises the tools to build agent-driven workflows and intelligent applications that harness the power of artificial intelligence for a wide range of use cases.
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At the heart of Box’s latest innovation is a shift toward agentic AI. While fully autonomous AI capabilities are still on the horizon, Box’s new offerings represent the first steps toward that goal. These tools will allow enterprises to set up custom instructions, guardrails, and workflows that let AI agents interact with company data on behalf of users, albeit within a controlled framework. As Aaron Levie, Box’s co-founder and CEO, explained, these advancements will pave the way for even more sophisticated AI capabilities in the future.
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“If we think about our path, we got to over a billion in revenue on that core foundation of secure sharing, collaboration, and content management,” Levie told VentureBeat. “Our path to 2 billion is going to be driven by these advanced content management and intelligent content management use cases.”
Box AI Studio: Custom Agents for Enterprise AI Workflows
The star of Box’s announcement is Box AI Studio, a powerful platform that enables enterprises to create and deploy custom AI agents tailored to specific business needs. Through Box AI Studio, organizations can select AI models, implement custom instructions, and deploy agents that understand company-specific terminology and processes. Built on collaborations with leading AI partners like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, the AI Studio platform supports a variety of enterprise scenarios, including sales enablement, compliance checks, and contract management.
Imagine a sales team leader needing an agent that understands the nuances of the company’s product portfolio, pricing guidelines, and sales protocols. With Box AI Studio, this hypothetical sales leader can create a custom AI agent that interprets and responds to inquiries according to the organization’s policies, ensuring accuracy and consistency in communication.
“Imagine if you’re the head of sales enablement and want people to be able to ask questions about any sales process,” Levie elaborated. “You might want to create a custom agent that knows how to use your business’s language and is instructed to only answer questions in a way that conforms to your sales process or policies.”
Though these agents are not yet fully autonomous, they represent a foundational step toward more agentic AI. Currently, Box AI Studio provides a controlled environment where companies can set parameters for agents, giving them tools and boundaries to interact with enterprise data safely and effectively.
Box Apps: Enabling Enterprises to Build No-Code Applications
In addition to the Box AI Studio, Box Apps introduces a new dimension to the Box platform. This no-code application builder allows users to create tailored applications directly within the Box environment, eliminating the need for extensive custom development. By enabling quick, intelligent applications, Box Apps makes it easier for enterprises to structure, view, and manipulate their data in a user-friendly interface.
Previously, companies relying on Box for storage faced limitations when attempting to integrate the platform into specific workflows, such as contract management or digital asset management. Box Apps now bridges that gap by providing the necessary UI and dashboard components to build specialized applications without requiring external development resources.
Box Apps offers structured access to data and metadata within the Box environment, enabling the creation of dashboards and interfaces that support crucial business workflows, such as contract management, invoice processing, and digital asset management. This capability is built on technology Box acquired in January with its purchase of Crooze, a software company specializing in rapid application development.
By integrating Crooze’s technology into Box Apps, Box is allowing companies to develop intelligent workflows and applications directly within the platform. This move simplifies the process of extracting and organizing data from Box storage, giving enterprises the ability to turn stored content into actionable insights without the hassle of complex integrations.
“This is the biggest set of new product enhancements that we’ve ever had as a company,” Levie remarked. “It opens up a much broader set of use cases that we can solve for customers and gets us into almost every line of business within the enterprise.”
Enhanced Capabilities Through Enterprise Advanced Subscription
Both Box AI Studio and Box Apps will be available under a new subscription tier called Enterprise Advanced. This offering caters to organizations that require high-level content management solutions and robust AI-driven applications. With Enterprise Advanced, Box aims to provide customers with powerful, flexible tools that enhance productivity and streamline complex workflows across all facets of an organization.
For companies looking to centralize data management and simplify application development, the Enterprise Advanced subscription offers a comprehensive package. This new subscription tier not only empowers enterprises to build no-code applications but also provides sophisticated AI tools that drive content management to new heights.
The Future of Box: Empowering Every Line of Business
Box’s transformation into an enterprise AI platform aligns with a broader trend in the tech industry: the move toward autonomous, intelligent content management solutions. As companies increasingly recognize the value of their data, platforms like Box are stepping up to offer advanced tools that make data more accessible, actionable, and secure.
In the coming years, we can expect Box to continue building on its AI-driven capabilities, exploring new ways to enhance productivity and streamline operations across various departments. By focusing on customizability, scalability, and ease of use, Box is positioning itself as a leader in intelligent content management solutions.
The impact of Box AI Studio and Box Apps will likely be felt across industries as companies deploy AI agents tailored to their unique needs. From customer service to compliance, sales, and beyond, the applications for these tools are vast. And with Box’s commitment to security and seamless integration, organizations can confidently embrace AI without compromising on data protection.
In summary, Box is no longer just a platform for storing and sharing files—it’s evolving into a powerhouse of enterprise AI and no-code application development. With the new Box AI Studio and Box Apps, Box is providing companies with the tools they need to turn data into action and insight, unlocking new possibilities for growth and efficiency in the AI-driven future.
