Box Brings Content Collaboration to Japan With Localized Product

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TOKYO, JAPAN – May 20, 2014 — /BackupReview.info/ — As its first Box World Tour event today in Tokyo, Box announced its entry into Japan with the introduction of a localized product for Japanese businesses and the official opening of its Tokyo office. Box’s entry follows strategic investments from Itochu Technology Ventures, Inc., Macnica, and Mitsui USA and MKI. The company also announced customer relationships with DeNA, famima.com, JGC, Mitsubishi Estate, Sanrio Entertainment Co, Ltd., and Waseda University as well as new platform integration partnerships with Konica Minolta, NTT Communications (NTT) and Cybozu.

“A revolution is taking place across the world as mobile and cloud technologies offer new opportunities for growth and efficiency for businesses of all sizes,” said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO, Box. “Japanese business leaders are embracing a new generation of cloud services, and we’re investing aggressively in building a platform that helps them become more productive and competitive.”

A recent Gartner report (“2014 CIO Agenda: A Japan Perspective^[1]”) stated, “In 2014, CIOs in Japan have been gradually shifting their management focus from efficiency to growth and innovation. But IT budgets will be slightly decreased under strict IT cost optimization. The most significant difference in technology priorities for CIOs in Japan is the increased importance of cloud.” With the introduction of a localized product, a dedicated team and a strong partner ecosystem in Japan, Box is meeting the demand from Japanese businesses for cloud solutions.

Katsunori Furuichi, president and managing director of K.K. Box Japan, has a deep track record in enterprise leadership, most recently serving as president and CEO of VeriSign Japan. The team in Tokyo will consist of sales representatives and sales engineers, business development, customer support, and marketing leaders to round out Box’s global presence, which includes offices in the United States, England, Germany and France.

Japanese Businesses Embrace Cloud Technology
Today, Box announced that DeNA, famima.com, JGC, Mitsubishi Estate, Sanrio Entertainment Co, Ltd., and Waseda University have adopted Box to bring secure file sharing and collaboration to their organizations. Box has a diverse global customer base, including twenty percent of the Global 2,000 and major brands such as Toyota, Schneider Electric, Procter & Gamble, Mitsubishi Estate and Panasonic.

Some examples of how companies in Japan are using Box include:

• DeNA, one of the fastest-growing gaming companies in Japan, moved to Box to replace consumer tools for all of its 2,000+ employees worldwide. Box helps their teams securely share information with internal and external teams and access content across any mobile device. DeNA also integrated Box with various cloud based applications and leverages Box APIs to embed Box into multiple systems.
• famima.com, drives the planning and operations for the multi-purpose terminal used in Japanese convenience franchise Family Mart, while operating the chain’s e-commerce site. The company has moved to the cloud with Box to help internal and external teams share information across mobile devices more safely and collaboratively.
• JGC, a world leading engineering contractor, has adopted Box for projects across the globe. More than 1,000 project collaborators are sharing information effectively and securely using Box on computers or mobile devices to drive project completion. Box is used from multiple locations, such as remote engineering offices, module yards in Asian countries, and construction sites in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Oceania as well as Japan.
• Mitsubishi Estate, a large real estate company, brings Box to strengthen mobile productivity and sharing with customers and external partners.

Konica Minolta, NTT Communications and Cybozu Build Custom Integrations with Box
Today, Box welcomes KONICA MINOLTA, NTT Communications and Cybozu to its platform integration partner network. The Application and Contents Services Department at NTT Communications Corporation offers Mobile Connect services to provide safe, secure and convenient connections to various cloud services. By integrating Box’s rich online collaboration features, NTT Communications will foster innovation for the work-style of mobile workers, and contribute to improving the productivity and customer service capabilities of customers. KONICA MINOLTA INC. has successfully collaborated with Box on bizhub essentials, a solution that enables its MFPs to work with cloud service. This allows users to store content by scanning and print it at any time, from anywhere, safely. Cybozu plans to announce an add-on application in mid-June, which will enable users to embed files and folders from Box into business applications developed with Kintone.

These companies join the Box Partner Network, which is comprised of Box’s Alliances, the Box Channel Program, and the Box Platform. The team in Tokyo is focused on expanding this ecosystem in Japan.

To learn more about Box’s Partner Network, please visit: www.box.com/partners

About Box
Box’s mission is to make businesses of all sizes more productive, competitive, and collaborative by connecting people and their most important information. Content on Box can be securely shared and easily accessed on the web, through iOS, Android and Windows Phone applications, and extended to partner applications, such as Google Apps, NetSuite and Salesforce. Headquartered in Los Altos, CA, Box is privately held and backed by several leading venture capital firms and strategic investors. To learn more about Box, visit www.box.com.

[1] – Gartner “2014 CIO Agenda: A Japan Perspective” by Satoshi Yamanoi, Kazunari Konishi, March 20, 2014.

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Meghan Hughes
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Meghan@box.com
www.box.com

Source: Box

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