Box Unveils Hubs: A Tailored Portal for Sharing Specialized Content

For years, organizations have searched for more effective ways to share information, yet the traditional file and folder structure has remained prevalent. While this setup works well for casual sharing among individuals or small groups, it can create confusion for larger teams trying to grasp the content within folders that lack context. Introducing Box Hubs, a groundbreaking tool designed to create centralized micro sites for specialized content sharing, launched today at the BoxWorks customer conference.

Company CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie explains that this challenge has been on the company’s radar for a decade. However, its urgency intensified during the pandemic when the need for effective content sharing became crucial. Today, the rise of generative AI adds even greater value to these content portals.

“Box Hubs essentially allows users to curate content from their Box accounts and publish it to any desired audience in a customized and organized manner. The potential use cases are virtually endless,” Levie stated.

Box Hubs serve as dedicated portals for essential materials like HR policies, brand assets, or updated pricing information for sales teams. Unlike traditional files and folders, these portals convey purpose and clarity.

How does AI integrate into this innovative concept? The hub format offers a carefully curated set of information that enhances search capability. Levie acknowledges this focus on curation became evident after the emergence of tools like ChatGPT last year.

“One major issue with AI is its difficulty in generating accurate responses when querying large, unstructured datasets that encompass various enterprise topics. Often, the AI returns either irrelevant answers or hallucinations due to the overwhelming number of information sources it sifts through,” he explained.

Box discovered that leveraging generative AI within a specifically curated content repository, such as a Box Hub, yields significantly more accurate responses. “Interestingly, we found that once you curate your data in a subject-specific content portal, users who ask questions within that context receive much better answers with a higher likelihood of accuracy,” Levie added.

To facilitate the creation of these portals, the company provides users with a straightforward tool. “You simply create a new hub, add a header, title, icon, and fill it with content, then click publish—and it’s ready to go,” Levie noted.

It’s vital for customers to ensure their portals remain updated and eliminate any obsolete ones. Levie mentions that the responsibility for creating and maintaining these hubs typically falls to department leads, team managers, or advanced users.

Box Hubs will be available at no additional cost for Enterprise plans and higher, while the AI search functionality will be a separate feature exclusive to the Enterprise Plus plan.

While both offerings were revealed today, they will not enter beta testing until next year.