Igniting the Dynamic Workforce in Your Company

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In the rapid push to moving to remote work, we’ve seen digital strategies  accelerate by years – transforming their workplaces, workstyles, and business processes forever. Overnight, remote workforces put advanced environments of multi-device mobility, dynamic connection points and robust cloud-based apps that ease communication and collaboration. A new normal is emerging, led by the companies aggressively adopting cloud native capabilities.

Now, as the world begins its crawl from the tarpit of the pandemic, ‘remote work’ does not do justice to the new reality. We are emerging into a new world of dynamic workforces that are empowered by technology to do their job from wherever they are, regardless of time or day – be it at the mall, the back of an Uber, a coffee shop, or yes, even a remote or home office – seamlessly and with extremely little disruption. But as thrilling as this new world is becoming, it also brings with it a new set of challenges. Make no mistake, if planned, deployed or managed improperly; if done whimsically with little thought to goals and objectives around business continuity and security, the downside to the new normal could have unintended consequences.

As organizations around the world work to build and support the dynamic workforce, they must consider content collaboration, communication, and network/enterprise integrity and security to help mitigate the risks. At the core of all three concerns, of course, is data. According to Gartner, data being generated by IT infrastructure is increasing two to threefold each year. Combine that figure with survey results from Aberdeen that estimate network outages can cost up to $260,000/hour, and the intrinsic relationship between seamless data flow and businesses continuity becomes clear.

This is a mission shared by companies like Box and IBM, who are each working to help clients navigate their digital transformations through and past the pandemic. Whether by providing secure content sharing and storage services, or infusing AI into IT operations for automatic responsiveness to network anomalies and disruptions, we’re each focused on the future of work. Let’s explore each a little more closely:

Box is the leading cloud content management platform that streamlines the way people work. It enables secure collaboration with anyone, anywhere, across any channel with over 1,400 integrations with applications like Slack, Zoom and Okta so that you can have one centralized place for all of your content. Box is committed to enabling your employees to work remotely, even with your extended enterprise, no matter where they are or what device they are using.

Learn more about IBM’s response to COVID-19

Here’s how:

• Ensuring business continuity. Businesses are now looking for a seamless approach to work, with technology that will enhance day-to-day collaboration among colleagues. Box powers the remote workforce, with an intuitive and easy-to-use UI for all of your employees to access, manage and collaborate on your most important content.
• A flexible platform for increased usage. As activity skyrockets on digital platforms, it is important to use technology that can scale with your business. Box’s platform can support this increased demand for content with rapid scalability and integration with best of breed applications, removing friction associated with accessing your files while working remotely.
• Secure remote work. Many businesses have largely solved the “basics” like video and chat and are now reflecting on how they manage, classify and govern their data. Box not only can host all of your content for enhanced and optimal workflows, but it ensures that all of your content is securely within your domain.

IBM is the global market share leader in AI for the past three consecutive years, according to IDC. With a focus on AI for business, it has been infusing automation and machine learning into tools, services and applications for years. As a result, IBM is helping more companies collect, organize and analyze their data with greater ease and then infuse AI across their enterprises with Watson.

Several weeks ago, IBM advanced its AI even further to the realm of IT. With the introduction of Watson AIOps during Think 2020, IBM ushered into the CIO’s office a solution that uses AI to automate how businesses self-detect, diagnose and respond to IT anomalies in real time. The offering is built on the latest release of Red Hat OpenShift and run across hybrid cloud environments. And via our partner ecosystem, IT operators can effectively resolve IT incidents quickly through a Slack interface and collaborate securely via online through document tools like Box.

Watson AIOps builds on major news we made last year with a unique approach to AI we dubbed, Watson Anywhere. Through the use of Cloud Pak for Data on Red Hat OpenShift, which enables clients to bring the AI to the data, on whatever cloud it resides, rather than the other way around. Watson AIOps is integrated on that stack and is one of many capabilities for building AI into the business. And the integration of Red Hat OpenShift enables automatic connectivity to all available applications and environments, including the Box platform.

Together, Box and IBM are enabling businesses to secure content, automate workflows and integrate best-of-breed technologies – all at scale – for their employees and the extended enterprise to enable secure remote work. For example, we have brought together IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog InstaScan with Box Shield to give Box users a fast, secure way to assess risks within their content. The tools enable users to prioritize and perform data remediation, all of which helps speed up compliance data collection.

Learn more about Box’s response to COVID-19

Our collaboration is also manifesting itself in immediate solutions designed to support increasingly dispersed teams that are working outside of the office due to COVID-19. The joint work is meant to also support a future in which IT infrastructures and services are smarter, more automated and distributed as a matter of course. Box is powering the way the world works, while IBM is driving automation and AI deeper into the enterprise to help improve business performance.

Box and IBM have been strategic partners for five years, and specifically with Watson since 2018, providing our respective clients with the right resources to do their best work and scale digital collaboration. Today as companies build, retrofit, and rethink their workforces and work styles, doing so with an eye on collaboration, communication and continuity will help them come back stronger, more flexible and more resilient to future challenges.

Hear more about how IBM and Box are ensuring secure, remote work at the IBM Data & AI Virtual Forum on June 17th. Register here. 

This story first appeared on the IBM Watson Blog.