Desktop, meet cloud — Box Drive is now available!

Our mission at Box has always been to make it insanely easy for people to share and access their files from anywhere. We want to give people and teams the freedom to work however they want, without barriers or limitations — whether that’s working in a browser window, from your mobile device or on your desktop. It’s why we created Box Sync and why every year, our customers have relied on it for over 10 billion of their files.

However, syncing isn’t always practical since the amount of file syncing you can do is limited by your hard drive space. Also, legacy technologies like network file shares have been showing their age for quite some time now — i.e., issues with mobility, collaboration, security, and compliance — and increasingly standing in the way of people getting work done. Working in the cloud should be simple for every team. That’s why last year, we built an all-new evolution of Box for the desktop — Box Drive — connecting your desktop and cloud content in one secure, seamless experience.

Today, we’re excited to announce that Box Drive is now generally available to everyone!

Box Drive is the only cloud drive built for the enterprise, giving you the power to stream all of your files — even billions of files — directly to your desktop, while using very little hard drive space. Box Drive makes it possible for users to easily access and collaborate on cloud-based content in an environment they’re familiar with, while giving IT all the benefits of a secure, cloud content management solution.

Box Drive makes it easy for users to:

• Work in the cloud like you work on your desktop. Use Windows Explorer or Mac Finder to seamlessly find, create, access, and edit Box files right from the desktop. Changes automatically save back to Box.
• Collaborate your way. Right-click any file or folder to share instantly — both within and outside your organization. Or open it on box.com and invite teams to view, edit, and upload files, turning folders into collaborative workspaces.
• Never lose a file again. A stolen laptop or hard drive crash doesn’t have to mean lost files — Box Drive safely stores your projects and documents for easy recovery. Plus, whenever you or your teammates make edits to a file, Box automatically saves the previous version, so it’s easy to revert back if needed.

And with Box Drive, IT teams can:

• Put legacy technology securely to rest. Box Drive makes replacement for network file shares that much easier, allowing users to access, manage, share, and collaborate on all of their content from a single place — while adding the enterprise-grade security and compliance capabilities Box is known for (including HIPAA, FINRA, and FedRAMP compliance, Binding Corporate Rules, and data retention policies through Box Governance). With content centralized in the cloud, IT is better equipped to manage the flow of content inside, outside, and across your organization.
• Increase adoption of the cloud. Cloud content management has a lot of benefits — but only if you can get your users to actually work from the cloud. Box Drive is the easiest and fastest way to help users make that transition, connecting cloud content directly to the desktop, so users can access all of their files in an environment they know. In fact, during the Box Drive public beta, many of our customers began to see a viral, team-wide shift to the cloud.
• Lower TCO. It takes a lot of IT resources to manage and support network file shares. Box eliminates the need for these growth and maintenance costs, which can save you millions. In fact, we’ve projected that by retiring legacy infrastructure in favor of Box, customers across industries like real estate, healthcare, and financial services can potentially realize cost savings of $1.3M to $6M or more over 3 years. Bonus: Your IT team will also be freed up to focus on more transformational tasks.

Modern business agility is built on an organization’s ability to work smarter, collaborate in real time, and iterate faster than ever. So what’s holding them back? Legacy technologies like network file shares. Cloud content management from Box is an easier and far more secure way for teams to work together across the extended enterprise. And Box Drive is here to help make your digital transformation easier, replacing legacy infrastructure with an easy-to-use and collaborative solution that’s grounded in an environment that users already know and trust.

Ready to give Box Drive a try? Start here with a free download. Or register for our webinar on April 4th to get more details.