We embrace diversity because it’s smart, not because it’s politically correct : Dan Levin, COO of Box

By @SimonCocking more here.

 

 

Irish Tech News were delighted to interview Dan Levin, Chief Operating Officer of Box. He was one of the most relaxed and easy going people we interviewed at the Summit.

Box are the enterprise (company) version of Dropbox.

Or, in their words “Box Inc. is an online file sharing and personal cloud content management service for businesses. The company adopted a freemium business model, and provides up to 10 GB of free storage for personal accounts”.

Have you been to the Summit before?

Yes, I came to Summit two years ago also, I loved it then, and am delighted to be back.

Why do you like coming to Dublin for the Summit?

Because I love it  here. I love Ireland, love the Summit, and also want to give something back. Naturally it is also great to see customers, clients, and potential clients. Fortunately we get to cover many bases by coming to the Summit.

Why should people consider Box over Dropbox or other companies, it’s a crowded market.

We offer 24/7 service, we’re more attentive to corporate customers, and we have a solution which is scalable for small to very large companies. We have a scaled pricing strategy too, which makes it affordable for everyone at the level they are at. We also offer a platform where third party tools can readily be incorporated too. We also offer our service free to small NGOs and charities, and at a reduced, reasonable pricing scheme for larger ngos and charities. We include Oxfam among clients, and they are very happy with the service.

Future repeats of security threats like Heartbleed seem to be near inevitable. What are your plans to deal with future security threats?

This is something we are constantly working on, and we have a whole section dedicated to. If something comes along that might affect you, you can be sure we probably already have our team, which is larger than most companies have, working on it. We take this very seriously, and dedicate a lot of resources to combating and trying to anticipate potential security issues.

 What’s the composition of the workforce like in Box

Diversity is really important to us. We already know the value of this, for plain simple economic reasons. We are better able to anticipate trends and future opportunities by having a mixed and varied workforce. Our rates of women and racial minorities employed are much better than the industry average. We completely see the value of it, and simply do it. This strategy already brings value to the company, greater value than not being proactive on this issue.

How about work life balance in general, from your linkedin profile, you make it clear that during your career you did have a period of being the stay at home parent.

Yes, at a company culture level, and personally, I value the need for balance. While it’s not always possible to leave at 5pm on the dot everyday, I still strongly want my staff to have a life outside of the office. Again, as with diversity, I am convinced this brings more value to what the employee can contribute at work. With a life outside of work, family, interest, hobbies, they are exposed to more potentially ideas to bring back to Box.

https://www.box.com/