Content management service provider Box Inc. is strengthening its partnership with Microsoft Corp with a new offering called Box Using Azure, which combines its services with Microsoft’s cloud storage.

Box and Microsoft have been partners since 2016, when the pair announced a product integration that enables users to save Office files directly to Box from Microsoft’s Android applications. The integration also allows Box users to preview Excel files without needing to open the Excel program itself.

The announcement Monday steps up the companies’ partnership considerably. The idea is to help joint customers securely manage their enterprise content using Office 365 and other software-as-a-service applications. Customers will also be able to add Box’s content management capabilities to custom apps.

Another benefit of the partnership is that Box will also use Azure’s global footprint to meet data sovereignty requirements and ensure compliance with regulations and corporate policies, the company said.

Box also said it’s planning to add some artificial intelligence services powered by Microsoft’s Cognitive Services. That’s an application programming interface service that allows the developers to implement AI algorithms in their apps using a few lines of code.

In a blog post, Box Vice President and General Manager Sanjay Manchanda said these new AI services will “enable customers to automatically identify and categorize content, trigger workflows and tasks and make content more discoverable for users.”

Box already boasts some AI capabilities, having introduced three “Box Skills” earlier this year. Box Skills are tools designed to help users gain insights from their image, audio and video files by making them easier to search through.

Box has also teamed up with other public cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services Inc. and IBM Corp. In 2016 it announced something called Box Zones, which uses those companies’ global network of cloud data centers so customers can adhere to local regulations on data storage.

Image: Box