Welcome to a new way to work(flow)

What's that feeling of palpable excitement in the air? Today we have some exciting news: at long last, Box Relay is now generally available for purchase! Box Relay is a new kind of workflow tool that makes it simple for anyone in a company to create, track and manage everyday processes.

Why do we think workflow is exciting? Because easily automating processes is a critical element to cloud content management, enabling content to route seamlessly to both your internal and external teams. To operate in a digital world, organizations can no longer rely on manual processes or legacy applications of the past. Workflow tools have been so complex and costly that only the most business critical processes have merited the effort needed to automate and track work.

Workflow should not be available to only the chosen few. Content and their content-centric processes are pertinent to everyone in a company.

"IT has historically set up workflows for employees”, says Alan Lepofsky, Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. “But there is a lot of value to have individuals create their own workflows that are not dictated from the company level down. The capability to build personalized business processes around what we do – and share it with others that follow similar patterns – has the potential to unlock value in nearly every facet of a company."

Box Relay is Workflow Made Simple

Co-developed with IBM, Box Relay addresses the challenge of easily automating repeatable processes. Whether it’s collecting feedback, streamlining the editing and review process, or simply formalizing approvals, Relay lets non-technical users automatically route content to the right people to get work done faster. With Relay, processes are more efficient and consistent, driving productivity across your entire organization.

For Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), Relay shows significant promise for their marketing and digital teams. “Box Relay will help us add discipline to our editorial and marketing teams’ workflows”, says Peter Duhon, Sr. Manager of Cloud Infrastructure at HBC. “With Relay, product can go live on the website faster and executives have the strategic visibility they need to work better.”

Key features of Box Relay include:

• Anyone can build and launch workflows - End-users can create, edit and save custom workflows
• Invite the extended enterprise - Assign external users to any task in the workflow
• Alerts and notifications - Get notifications and email reminders throughout process
• Real-time visibility - Track progress of launched workflows. Send shared links for others to review
• Integrated with your content - Built into Box, with the same features and functionality you know and trust
• Content security - Content is protected throughout the workflow with audit trails, permissions and data protection

There's More to Come

Our product development doesn't stop because we are releasing the product. This next year in Relay, we will be adding more sophistication while maintaining our focus on self-service and simplicity.

1. Users will be able to automatically launch workflows from events within Box. If a legal contract is uploaded to a folder, or a marketing asset is classified as "needs translation", a Relay workflow can be kicked off automatically.
2. We'll also be releasing APIs so that you can integrate Relay into your company's existing processes and applications.
3. We're adding the ability to e-sign documents, with our existing e-signature partners integrated into your process. If your Relay workflow requires someone to sign an NDA or an HR contract, you'll be able to obtain secure and compliant e-signatures for your documents.
4. Finally, we're making it simple to manage multiple workflows at a time. With an updated dashboard, all of your workflows can now be monitored at a glance, streamlining the manager's ability to keep track of all the projects at once.

When it comes to cloud content management, Box Relay makes it even easier automate and manage content-centric processes that you do every day. It's workflow made simple.

To learn more about how Hudson’s Bay Company is using Box Relay and to see a live demo, please register for our upcoming live webinar on November 30th, Introducing Box Relay: Workflow Made Simple.