Google Apps for Work is Google’s move to get their own software like Google Docs and Google Sheets a bigger presence within the enterprise sector and has thus far met with moderate success. While the app suite has seen fairly wide adoption, they’ve still not managed to come anywhere near putting a dent in the dominance of Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. In order to continue their push for territory and see Google Apps for Work make it into even more offices than it can already be found in, Google is partnering up with cloud enterprise firm Box. With Box powering infrastructure and content for big names like Intuit and Whirlpool, all signs point to Google having scored a valuable partnership.
The bulk of the partnership consists of Box integrating Google Apps for Work into their own services, making it easier and more intuitive for their clients to make use of Google’s tools. For starters, Box will be added as a third-party repository for Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Sheets. This means that Box customers can work with their files in their Box infrastructure directly from the web and mobile apps for Google’s productivity tools, with or without a subscription to Google Apps for Work. This means that customers can take advantage of Box features like workflow management and real-time alerts, while using the real-time collaboration features and powerful editing of Google’s tools. This integration could allow, for example, a manager to get an alert when a certain employee edits a document, allowing the manager to look over the work and correct any issues before the rest of the team sees it.
Box is also working to integrate their product lineup with Springboard, Google’s in-app and cross-platform internal search utility. Users will be able to use Springboard to search within content managed under Box, and across platforms, groups and offices. This could help in situations where different offices have to collaborate or share a certain data set over the course of a project, or where somebody writing up an investor report wants to access figures from the quarterly meeting, which was created in Google Sheets. At the moment though, there are no concrete timelines for when Box customers will begin to see the Google/Box integrated features.