Thousands at USU are About to Experience a new and Improved Box

Those who are embracing the management mantra to “think outside the box” may want to put that off a little. The Box is getting better.

Regular users of Box are about to notice some changes and improvements to the cloud-based tool that nearly 13,000 people at Utah State University utilize on a regular basis, according to Steve Eaton who works in the Office of Information Technology.

In fact, some of those users are already experiencing what is being called the “all new Box,” because they have accepted an invitation sent by Box encouraging them to try it out early, he said. The new version won’t be officially launched for all Box users until January of 2017. 

Eaton said he’s been experimenting with the new Box and likes what he sees.

“I’m often suspicious and wary of these type of upgrades because, for me, they sometimes result in complications that just make it harder to do the basic things I’m used to doing,” Eaton said. “I’ve been testing out the new set up, however, and it seems much easier to use and faster too.”

In fact, Box reports that the page load times are 30 percent faster and it has five times faster upload speed. Box says that it now has “cleaner layout and simpler navigation” that are aimed at making each person’s relevant content quickly accessible.

“There are a number of other changes that are part of this and the easiest way to learn about them is just to move to the new Box and test them out,” Eaton said.

If you haven’t noticed or received a new pop-up invitation to try out the new Box interface, you can go directly to https://usu.app.box.com/on/allnewbox to test it out now.  Box will automatically move all of its customers to the new set up in January of 2017.

Contact: Steve Eaton, IT Communications, 435-797-0059, steve.eaton@usu.edu