Alphabet-owned Google has teamed up with Box Inc., the online storage company, for document storage in the cloud.
On Wednesday, Sept. 7, the two announced the collaboration that will facilitate corporate customers of Box to assimilate Google Docs, which is basically the suite of spreadsheet, word processing and other useful tools from Google. The partnership for working on multiple cloud integrations was announced at the Box's annual BoxWorks conference, which was held in San Francisco, California.
As part of the collaboration, Box will also be able to integrate Google Springboard to offer users a swifter and seamless experience.
"The integration between Box and Google Docs will enable Box to act as a third-party repository for Docs, Sheets and Slides, allowing users to create and collaboratively edit Google Docs directly from Box," notes Nan Boden, head of global technology partners at Google, in a blog post.
The deal between Google and Box presents the latter with a valuable opportunity to widen its suite of apps. The company could potentially tap into the possibility of expanding its customer base and reaching out to new users who deploy Google Docs.
Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box, revealed that the company's objective was to offer "modern productivity tools" to a platform that was neutral, aiding customers to integrate the services and software from a gamut of companies in a seamless manner.
"The combination of Box's enterprise content platform with Google's world-class cloud technology will help businesses of all sizes unlock productivity across their organizations. 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," noted Levie.
The collaboration is one of the many steps taken by Google's Dianne Greene, who helms the company's cloud computing division, with the vision to make the company a force to be reckoned with in corporate computing. The partnership with Box could very well be a step in the direction of ruling the cloud computing space and could potentially give rival Dropbox some sleepless nights.
It may seem a tad odd that Google is partnering with Box despite having its own cloud storage offering. Irrespective of this, the collaboration will be welcomed by customers of both companies. Moreover, since the services offered by Box and Google Drive are quite distinct, neither's customer base will be eaten into.
After the announcement, the shares of Box jumped 2 percent on the NYSE to $14.52 per share, which is its highest in 2016.
