Government Digital Service approves 'official' use of Box across all of government

Move designed to 'Enhance flexibility for file sharing, especially around 'official' data'

The Government Digital Service (GDS) - the body tasked with transforming government infrastructure for the digital age - has approved the use of Box content sharing and collaboration tools across all government departments.

The decision to provide Box tools across all of government was given the go-ahead by Mark Fisher, the Cabinet Office's Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO).

According to a statement, the GDS selected the cloud-based Box applications to "improve collaboration capabilities of its mobile workforce" by providing staff "with an intuitive platform which is both secure and easy to use". The deployment of Box across government is also designed to "enhance flexibility for file sharing, especially around ‘official' data".

"Technology has advanced dramatically and new ways of working can mean legacy IT solutions are not always suitable for today's government, which often needs to manage critical content easily and securely from anywhere and on any device," said David Quantrell, Box senior vice president and general manager of EMEA.

"The GDS is a pioneer in deploying innovative technology and as it expands its collaboration portfolio it is encouraging wider cross-government cooperation," he added.

Box is already available to UK government departments through the G-Cloud procurement system and the collaboration tools provider boasts government customers across the globe, including the US government's General Services Administration.

Speaking recently at the Box World Tour event in London, Box CEO Aaron Levie outlined the ways in which he believes his company can differentiate itself from competitors such as Dropbox in a very busy enterprise collaboration and storage software space by offering integrated tools that enable customers to "enrich" their organisations.

"Our overall philosophy is that we have to provide the best platform for where you're going to want to put your content and that is a moving target because what we can do on the internet is always changing," he said, responding to a question from Computing.