A cloud platform for the modern workplace

With over 5,000 employees worldwide, the Serviceplan Group is Europe's largest and most diversified owner- and partner-managed agency group. Its teams create fascinating content and engaging campaigns in support of leading brands like Lufthansa, O₂ Telefónica Germany, and BMW.

Founded in 1970 as a traditional advertising agency, the Serviceplan Group quickly developed its “House of Communication” concept, creating the only fully integrated agency model in Germany, combining all communication disciplines from the areas of creative and content, media and data, as well as experience and commerce under one roof. Today, the Serviceplan Group is represented in 34 countries worldwide with 22 agency locations plus additional local partnerships.

Initially, its IT setup included several file servers and data transfer solutions that couldn’t keep up with the decentralization of the workforce. Teams needed a solution to improve their collaboration workflows, connect their remote teams and (lately) acquired agencies, and eliminate isolated work on file servers.

For that, the organization turned to Box.

Stefan Reitmeier, Senior Technical Manager at Serviceplan Group shares his thoughts: “In the past we had file servers where we stored huge amounts of media data. But as soon as it comes to teams that work from different solutions, it’s way easier when you work with a cloud platform.”

With the Content Cloud, Serviceplan Group teams can:

• Create, share, edit, and classify content, like customer presentations, together with their peers on one single platform
• Access relevant content from anywhere
• Securely share content like campaign concepts with customers and partners with one click

“Content creation and sharing data is way faster,” Reitmeier says.

A perfect combination of security and ease of use

When looking for the best cloud content management platform for their business, the Serviceplan Group IT team focused on two key needs:

• Security: Today, clients have stringent requirements when it comes to data security, document classification, and compliance. Service providers had to prove their abilities to comply with regional data protection guidelines such as GDPR and ISO 27001.
• Ease of use: People are used to the simple and intuitive user interfaces of the apps they use daily in their private lives, and they expect the same from business applications. In the absence of those capabilities, they’ll switch back to end-user solutions, leading to shadow IT and increased security risks.

Box was the clear leader in both areas. Stefan Reitmeier shared: “It’s really hard to find a solution like Box, which is so easy to use and has so many compliance and security features built in that you really need as an enterprise company.”

With Box Shield, the Serviceplan Group can create and manage custom classification labels to prevent data leaks and detect potential data theft and malicious content. Meanwhile, Box Governance ensures the Serviceplan Group stays compliant with data protection regulations.

A modern and simple interface, paired with seamless integrations with other apps, makes Box easy to use for all teams, customers, and partners.

Simplified and cost-efficient IT

Increased productivity and security are only some of the benefits that came along with Box. By deploying Box to replace old file servers and eliminating data transfer platforms, the Serviceplan Group has also reduced IT complexity and related cost.

CFO and COO at Serviceplan Group, Fabian Prueschenk, shares: “We had plenty of file servers and solutions for data transfer that are now consolidated in one single product. And as we all know, one product is way more efficient and cost efficient rather than having a bunch of systems in place.”

Ticking all boxes, from security to interoperability

The top three things Serviceplan Group loves about Box, according to Stefan Reitmeier:

1. Fast and easy implementation: “The implementation was super easy and way faster than we thought.”
2. Security: “Box is probably the most advanced cloud file-sharing platform when it comes to enterprise security and compliance.”
3. Integration with Microsoft 365: “Box has an excellent integration with Microsoft Teams that adds a cloud content management specialization and makes it a perfect addition to Microsoft 365.”

Box combines the two worlds perfectly: The ease of use from commodity products and the enterprise security and compliance needs. This is what makes Box outstanding.