Struggling to store, manage, or collaborate on work within your organization?
Box and SharePoint are two commonly used online storage solutions that enable business teams to store and collaborate on files securely. Discover the differences between the two, where each one shines, and select the one that will best improve and simplify file sharing for your specific end users.
What is Box?
Box, the content cloud, equips team members to store, access, and collaborate on files from any device. In addition to efficient and simple file creation and sharing capabilities, Box also allows for flows that include signatures and approvals to be given and tracked. The signature feature is one way Box beats SharePoint out as it can seamlessly track signatures and approvals with the corresponding documentation directly in Box. Simple workflows such as these allow users to perform all the above tasks within Box. Another important thing to note is the file size limit for Box is 250 GB, which is big enough for 37,000 photos or 150 3-minute-long videos.
What is SharePoint?
SharePoint is a highly functional cloud storage solution, that also has a 250 GB file size limit. In addition to storing and collaborating on files, SharePoint can create custom sites and pages, such as an intranet, that allow the management of files to be far more organized and allow for more complex app integrations. One way SharePoint surpasses Box is how it operates with the applications it can integrate with. For example, users can make changes to a downloaded file, like a word document, or make those changes directly in SharePoint. Both will reflect the changes in real time.
How much is Box?
Box Business, their basic plan, starts at $15 per user, per month. For more integrations, customizations, and collaboration possibilities, it goes up to $25, and the advanced option is $35. However, for the most premium content storage abilities, governance options, and ensured data protection, it’s recommended to splurge for the custom plan which is $35+. This includes additional top security and compliance features not offered in the other plans in place for especially sensitive files.
Is Box Secure?
A few common applications Box users integrate with for security are Okta, Broadcom, Splunk, and more. These applications only allow permissioned users to view and edit files. When file sharing internally/externally, Box users can require logins, verification, or passwords. Box prioritizes security and compliance particularly for its Enterprise plan users thanks to strong user authentication with SSO and MFA, device security, and information rights management.
Is SharePoint Secure?
SharePoint enlists user permissions to control who has access to SharePoint sites and documents. These permissions can be given to individual users, departments, or entire organizations. As SharePoint is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, Azure Active Directory ensures secure identity management of users and tenants allowed to sign in and access SharePoint. When sharing a link to collaborate on a SharePoint file, users can delegate who can access, edit, or review documents. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 gives the ability to make sure links included in SharePoint files don’t link to malware or insecure websites.
What Does Box Integrate Well With?
Box integrates well with over 1,500 applications. This allows Box the capability of working with many different file types, applications, and workflows. Popular applications Box works with are Google Workspace, Adobe, Office365, Salesforce, and more. Workflows can be set up in Box that prompt users on actions and notify them when completed. The screenshot below shows an example of applications used for access to a contract, creating and editing the contract, and the contract being signed and finalized. An important feature of integrations with Box are the notification capabilities. Box alerts users with notifications in email (or the type of communication they prefer). As stated towards the beginning of this blog, simple integrations that allow for communication, collaboration or file approval work best in Box.
What Does SharePoint Integrate Well With?
SharePoint also integrates with hundreds of applications, which leads to the ability to perform thousands of functions. As previously shared, SharePoint allows for additional and expansive file sharing and collaborative functionalities. Customizable pages/sites (ex: intranets), complex flows, and simultaneous app integrations allow SharePoint users more possibilities with file sharing. SharePoint and Box integrate seamlessly with many of the same apps and technologies, selecting the right one for your organization just depends on users and goals for a file storage solution. SharePoint comes with more features and applications out-of-the-box, which leads to not needing as many additional integrations down the road.
Pros and Cons of Box?
Pros
Unlimited file storage (250 GB file size limit)
Excellent at file sharing and collaboration with extensive security and compliance features that keep files safe (at the premium plan level)
A simple user experience with easy access to files and folders
Flows can be created to orchestrate a chain of actions completed by end users
Offline desktop sync updates well and frequently to ensure files are current and saved
Box is intuitive, and user friendly
Cons
Workflow automations are efficient but are limited to simple workflow actions
Support is available 24/7 with the enhanced support option
Pros and Cons of SharePoint?
Pros
Files or sites can be easily collaborated on with external users
Unlimited file storage (250 GB file size limit)
When groups or teams are created in SharePoint, they are automatically synced across applications such as Teams allowing for consistent communication across apps
Optimal security as you can delegate who can access, read, review, or edit certain files
Unlimited number of internal users you can invite to collaborate on SharePoint files or sites
Can create elaborate/complex flows to trigger collaboration processes across applications (ie. when a user completes one Word document, it emails the reviewer in Outlook for approval automatically)
Efficiently organizes content and files within sites
Syncs updates frequently to ensure files are current and saved
Individual teams can customize their own SharePoint sites easily, and share information and current updates across the organization
Cons
SharePoint sites can be shared with those with a non-Microsoft account, but the user experience is more complicated
Can be a complicated learning curve for a new user
Who is Box Best For?
Box is the best document storage solution for (small to medium-sized businesses) SMB’s and independent contractors. Box is perfect for storing files and allowing credentialed users to accomplish what’s needed. Because Box is incredibly simple to use with its user-friendly interface, it is best for companies that only need to perform simple file-sharing and approval tasks. If you need an easy and effective way to collaborate on documents with a few team members, this is the solution for you.
Who is SharePoint Best For?
SharePoint is best for organizations that require a solution that is more expansive in its file-sharing and collaboration functionality. SharePoint is for any size organization, especially large enterprises, who share large amounts of files each day, and often share those files externally. It also allows users the ability to live edit all at once, send the same file to multiple users/teams, and seamlessly create advanced workflows for more complex applications to work together. Specific business teams within organizations can create their own SharePoint sites to ensure their information is categorized, and to allow the rest of the organization to see their team updates.
Ready to Take Your File-Sharing to the Next Level?
File storage and sharing have never been easier than they are today. The features of both Box and SharePoint are highly collaborative and either one will provide value to your business teams. If SharePoint is the best solution for your organization, and you have implementation questions, contact JourneyTEAM today.