Thanks to ​@Dan Gould Box  ​@dzarazua Box ​@aschwartz Box for yesterday’s overview and demo of Box for Higher Education and University Advancement. You can find recording clips here and a summary below. 

Recording clips

1. Overview of Box AI and Box for Higher Education. Recording clip here
2. Box for University Advancement. Recording clip here

Box’s view on AI in Higher Ed

With over 1,400 colleges and universities worldwide utilizing Box, the company is positioned to address higher education's challenges around digital transformation and administrative simplification. ​@Dan Gould Box  highlighted this reach:

"Here at Box, we have about 80 institutions using Box as an enterprise-wide solution. Many are exploring AI to unlock the value of unstructured content and simplify workflows."

The presenters outlined Box’s AI-first principles, emphasizing scalability, transparency, and governance in AI adoption. Box positions AI as a tool not just for digital transformation (creating new systems) but also administrative simplification (making existing processes better). Recording clip here

Specific use cases showcased how universities could use AI to enhance operations:

• Admissions and Enrollment Workflow: Automating transcript routing and document management.

• Registrar’s Office Tasks: Streamlining student form submissions and facilitating compliance checks.

• Fundraising and University Advancement: Drafting gift agreements using generative AI and automating donor workflows.

• Research Administration: Simplifying grant applications and contract management.

By enabling employees to focus more on strategic tasks and less on repetitive functions, Box highlights AI's ability to amplify productivity:

"Being able to do your job in a way that lets you use your brain for the most important parts of your work and letting routine, administrative tasks get carried out by your software vendors and partners."

Features and AI Capabilities in Box

​@Dan Gould Box gou continued with an exploration of Box’s AI-powered solutions, which aim to redefine modern content management. Dan outlined Box’s guiding principles for delivering secure, transparent, and effective AI features. Key capabilities included:

1. Instant Insights & Multi document Querying: AI tools in Box allow users to ask strategic questions across large document sets, deriving data-driven answers. For example, during donor research, AI generates targeted questions and actionable next steps from multiple files.

2. Secure Document Creation & Classification: Box’s advanced security measures ensure sensitive donor agreements and research data are appropriately managed.

"Auto classification with Box Shield restricts downloads for sensitive documents," explained  ​@dzarazua Box 

1. Automated Workflows: From donor folder creation to retention policies, Box automates critical processes, ensuring transparency, efficiency, and compliance.

"Retention policies for gift agreements help maintain accountability and align with legal and tax regulations,"  ​@dzarazua Box  noted.

1. Customizable AI Agents: Box integrates with AI models from partners like IBM, AWS, and Google, enabling organizations to tailor AI solutions to their exact needs. Users can specify workflows, document routing rules, and output preferences.

"With Box capabilities, you can configure any type of AI agent to suit your exact science,"  ​@dzarazua Box  said.

University Advancement Demo Highlights

​@dzarazua Box  presented a demo tailored to donor management workflows in university advancement teams. Tackling real-world pain points like manual gift agreement processing, he demonstrated how Box automates gift tracking and donor communication. Recording clip here

Key Demo Elements:

1. Box Forms: University staff used Box Forms to collect donor data. This no-code solution allowed seamless metadata capture, and donor details were instantly linked to secure files within the Box Content Cloud.

2. Automatic Document Generation: After submission, Box generated donor folders and PDFs, embedding metadata directly into documents—ready for secure sharing or auditing.

"Box creates this Adam Scott donor folder, pulling in all the merge fields submitted from the original form," explained ​@dzarazua Box 

1. Sensitive File Security: Advanced security tools ensured compliance by restricting access to sensitive donor documents.

2. Metadata Extraction for Nonstandard Submissions: ​@dzarazua Box  demonstrated how Box AI handles even nontraditional inputs (e.g., scanned PDFs uploaded outside the Box Forms system), extracting critical metadata at scale.

3. Retention and Compliance:Retention policies were automatically applied to ensure that donor agreements adhered to legal and regulatory guidelines.

Scaling AI Adoption in Higher Education

The roundtable concluded with a discussion of AI adoption. Poll results showed a mix of participants in different adoption stages, from planning to scaling initiatives.

​@Dan Gould Box  summarized the conversation with a call to action:

"We hope this inspired you to think about ways AI might empower your workflows. Let’s keep the conversation going."

The presenters encouraged attendees to continue engaging via the Box Customer Community and Higher Ed User Group to share insights on campus-based AI success stories.

Key Takeaways for Institutions

For those considering Box as an AI partner, three lessons stand out:

1. Leverage AI for Simplification, Not Just Transformation: AI can elevate day-to-day operations while freeing employees for strategic initiatives.

2. Automation Is Crucial for Scalability: Forms, workflows, and metadata tools allow institutions to scale processes without increasing manual effort.

3. Security & Compliance Cannot Be Overlooked: Features like retention policies and Box Shield ensure sensitive information is properly handled.