Tell India And Other Asian Countries To Prepare, Kaizala Will Be Replaced

The business world has seen historical mergers and acquisitions. The most notable remains Facebook and since its inception, the company has acquired over 80 others and the most recent being the world’s most popular chat app — WhatsApp. The multi-billion dollar company, Microsoft also recently announced that Microsoft Teams will be absorbing and eventually replacing Kaizala. The news has come as a surprise to many but a lot of users have come to terms with the fact that the merger is definitely for the better.

The company was quoted in April saying “we will be bringing Kaizala capabilities into Microsoft Teams as an integrated offering. We expect the integration to happen in phases over the next 12–18 months, and we will provide more details about the Kaizala and Teams integration roadmap later this quarter”

With Kaizala set to become a part of Microsoft teams, the execution is still largely unclear. According to the revelation by Microsoft, the brand made mention of “bringing Kaizala capabilities” into teams. This could mean that those features could appear in teams. The word integration was also used and feelers across the tech world are still unclear whether the whole process is going to be an outright replacement or a joint management.

Kaizala — What You Need To Know

Microsoft Kaizala shares the same similarities with Whatsapp but in its own case, there are some a la carte intelligent features. It works on mobile — Android and iOS. There is also a web based version of the app aswell as group chat where several people can join. No identity is also attached to the phone numbers. Kaizala is mobile centred and it is more prevalent in countries that do not have a lot of computers and a decent internet.

The Kaizala Major capabilities include:

• Connection with anyone using the Kaizala open directory to enable people sign up simply with a phone number making it scalable to millions of users.
• A secure work management integrated with video and messaging. In built action cards such as poll, training, survey and location sharing enables the user execute tasks and securely collect information
• Digitized business process. The extensible platform of Kaizala enables you create a personalized line-of-business action cards. Business insights can also be gathered using built-in reporting and analytics.

More Light On The Process

A new blog from Microsoft has provided more insight on their initial position on the process. The Microsoft Teams will outrightly overhaul and replace the Microsoft Kaizala Service in Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

Some of the key points from the announcement includes:

• Microsoft will be adding Kaizala pro functions to teams over the course of 12–18 months and absolutely replacing the Microsoft Kaizala Service.
• Microsoft Teams will be made the primary client in Microsoft 365 and Office 365 for both intra workplace and inter-workplace communications
• The first edition of Kaizala Pro functions will be made available in teams by the end of the 2019 calendar year and these will also include Kaizala features as in-built applications in Teams such as quiz, training and checklist.
• By the end of the next year, 2020, Teams will be upgraded with additional capabilities and these will include flexible group types, open directory features for identity and authentication as well as custom app features. The additions will facilitate communications with anyone on Teams whether or not they are the users Azure Active Directory.
• The successful integration of these new features into Microsoft Teams will help the previous Kaizala Users enjoy a smooth transition.

Although in the meantime, Kaizala will continually enjoy support and updates from the team, Indians should start preparing for the arrival of something bigger and better. The most important aspect of the overhauling is that customers will be enabled to use Teams to connect and coordinate with their clients and extended networks — suppliers, partners, citizens and customers. Communication will be unhindered irrespective of being managed in your Azure Active Directory (AAD) environment. This is considered as the fore feature of Kaizala.

The new phase

Kaizala might be on the cusp of being replaced but the users of the app have nothing to worry about. Its unique capabilities will be incorporated into Teams including connection and engagement of people both within and without an organizations directory. The new look will employ the use of a large and flexible group types. Kaizala enables a phone number based identity for ease of joining conversations.

Kaizala will be replaced by an interface that is user friendly for a fantastic messaging and work management. The Kaizala Pro capabilities that provides for easy creation and management of organizational groups, gathering of rich analytics, building custom workflow and integrations, enterprise security standard and compliance will all be integrated in its successor.

India And The Whole Of Asia, Get Ready For The Switch

Since it first launched in India back in 2017, and subsequent introduction to selected markets, thousands of organizations have adopted the use of Kaizala. Popular names include the Philippines Airlines, Mc Donald’s Turkey, UEM Edgenta, Government of Andhra Pradesh, M-Kopa Solar, Apollo Hospitals and several others in diverse industries.

The capabilities of Kaizala will be used to complement the magnificent collaboration and communication abilities of Microsoft teams. Teams facilitate an easy workplace communication by helping organizations eliminate the hurdles of having to use several apps. It replaces this with a single hub that is loaded with everything workers need to communicate like meetings, chats, calls and more, all working in consonance with the traditional office 365 app.

The Kaizala to Teams integration coupled with the opportunities it holds for business owners, customers and partners alike leaves the business world with much to savour. Users can securely connect both in and out of their organization. Based on requests from customers, there would be additional features to make Teams even better. The new capabilities will not only lead to a direct increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of communication in workplaces, it will also allow organizations collaborate across time zones, locations and languages. This will enable every member of an organization network via digital collaboration tools whether they are in the company’s directory or not.

Originally published at https://nextplane.net on August 14, 2019.