As I wrote when Box Notes was first announced back in 2013, this leaves all of them lacking a complete offering: Part of the problem is that each vendor comes at collaboration from a different starting point. We're all floundering in a digital ocean of uncharted collaboration options. But despite (or more accurately, because of) this plethora of products jockeying for our attention, there's no standard toolset or accepted methodology for making it work well. These new patterns of collaboration are an essential success ingredient in a modern digital business. Suffice to say that digital technology offers more ways than ever for people to interact and share with colleagues, customers and stakeholders. Meanwhile the recently launched Microsoft Teams becomes generally available this quarter. Next week it's expected to be the turn of Dropbox to unveil new functionality.

Last week saw the launch of a major overhaul to teamwork tool Slack, including the long-awaited arrival of threaded conversations. This week Box launched a major update to its Notes collaboration canvas - more on that in a moment. Will 2017 be the year that digital collaboration grows up? The year is certainly kicking off with a series of notable product enhancements by leading vendors in the space.

Dropbox paper vs