RWS Global transforms production with Box AI

Transforming unstructured data into creative gold

To media and entertainment companies, content is everything. But the content they created is only as good as the content they use behind the scenes — the plans, blueprints, scripts, decks, meeting agendas, marketing strategies, emails, notes, and all the other files that go into everyday work. All of these important assets constitute a treasure trove of unstructured data. There’s immense value in that data, if it’s managed right.

RWS Global is a leading live entertainment and sports production company that creates unforgettable experiences worldwide — from cruise ships to theme parks, museums, and major sporting events like the Paris Olympics. With such diverse projects happening simultaneously across continents, RWS Global has a lot of unstructured data to manage behind the scenes.

The company’s COO, Jake McCoy, explains that before adopting Box, their biggest challenge was consolidating files scattered across various platforms inherited through years of acquisitions. Each acquired company brought with it files across different storage systems — which made collaboration difficult and slowed down operations. McCoy says: “We want our people spending more time being human — being creative — and less time bogged down in admin."

Fragmented data brings creativity to a dead stop

With over 450 users globally working on complex productions involving thousands of files, from creative assets to scopes of work, the lack of a unified system created bottlenecks at RWS Global. “Efficiency and collaboration really is at the heart of this project,” explains McCoy. “We've got teams in different countries working on the same projects together across multiple time zones.”

Teams in Sydney and teams in New York, for instance, were working from different sets of information, wasting their time and creating the risk of errors in project execution. At the same time, administrative tasks like data analysis were manual and tedious. Creating over 1 million live moments a day means that RWS Global is constantly processing large amounts of guest satisfaction data. With a variety of file types, these can now be easily taken into a workflow for streamlined analysis.

A single source of truth powered by AI

The pressing need to unify global files in one place was the first step on RWS Global’s journey with Box. “The most important thing we did right away was establish a single source of truth,” McCoy shares. By migrating all their legacy data onto Box’s secure Intelligent Content Management platform, RWS Global ensured every team could access accurate and trusted information no matter where they were located.

RWS Global then embraced Box Hubs to organize projects. Every project, show, or client has its own Box Hub, housing everything from contracts to creative assets. This structure simplifies access for internal teams and external collaborators.

RWS Global then embraced Box Hubs to organize projects. Every project, show, or client has its own Box Hub, housing everything from contracts to creative assets. This structure simplifies access for internal teams and external collaborators.

As RWS Global moves along the maturity curve with AI, McCoy says, “AI is not going to be replacing humans. It’s only going to unlock us to do more of the things we should be doing all the time: being creative, interacting with our clients, engaging with our team members around the world.”

More time for creativity with Box AI

Since implementing Box as its Intelligent Content Management platform, RWS Global has witnessed substantial progress in the way teams get work done:

• Teams gain faster insights by querying project hubs instead of digging through folders
• Metadata extraction (powered by AI) enables quick searches across massive archives — for example, finding past shows that match specific criteria (like genre or duration) instantly
• Automated workflows reduce clerical burdens so employees can focus more on delivering
  exceptional entertainment experiences, less on manual tasks

Looking ahead, RWS Global will expand its use of Box Extract for metadata automation and develop more intelligent agents tailored to streamline other business processes — initiatives aimed at freeing up people’s time for higher-value creative work. McCoy says, “Jumping straight into metadata extraction is going to be next up for us on our roadmap. We've got really exciting capabilities that will be unlocked for us with archival media.”

Currently, the process of finding things quickly within the archives is highly manual and very time consuming. It requires hiring outside freelance support because it takes days, even months. With Box AI-driven metadata extraction, RWS Global intends to zip up and greatly simplify that process. And they’ll be able to take advantage of natural language searches so anyone can quickly locate important content without having to conduct extensive manual searches — saving huge amounts of time. Finally, AI-driven classifications will help ensure tighter security around files and assets.

As RWS Global continues to create unforgettable entertainment experiences, Intelligent Content Management doesn’t just support the company’s work — it’s fundamentally transforming how entertainment production happens in the digital age.

 

We want our people spending more time being human — being creative — and less time bogged down in admin.

—Jake McCoy, COO, RWS Global