The latest big-name cloud provider Box Inc. has managed to convince into adding native support for its popular file sharing service is Salesforce.com Inc., which this week announced plans to let users access their documents directly from within its customer relationship management platform. The upcoming integration aims to address the growing reliance on data in the deal-making activities of the large enterprises that the vendors are targeting.

Salesforce Files Connect for Box will allow service representatives to quickly access internal help materials when faced with difficult questions from customers, while marketers stand to gain the benefit of greatly streamlined collaboration. A promotional content specialist, for instance, will be able to submit a new product description to their supervisor for review and read their feedback without so much as having to open a new window. Organizations should be able to accommodate workers whose requirements aren’t met out-of-the box as well with the help of a development toolkit that is launching in conjunction to allow for the integration to be incorporated into custom extensions.

The functionality represents a major advantage over Microsoft Corp.’s recently updated Dynamics CRM, which currently only supports its own OneDrive file locker. Box, meanwhile,  will likewise be able to stand out more effectively from rivals like Dropbox Inc. that don’t provide the same level of integration with Salesforce.com’s platform. But that edge may not last for very long given the cutthroat competition in the collaboration space, a consideration that has led the startup to avoid keeping all of its eggs in one basket.

The introduction of the new integration comes only two and a half months after Box teamed up with IBM Corp. to make files kept in its service easily accessible through traditional on-premise applications. And about a quarter before that, the startup received a similar endorsement from Microsoft in the form of native support in Office 365, which recently surpassed Salesforce.com to become the most widely-used cloud service among enteprrise workers.

 Image via Stux