''Made in India'' Microsoft ''Kaizala'' app to boost productivity

New Delhi: To enable businesses become more productive, Microsoft India on Wednesday officially launched `Kaizala' - a `made in India` app that has been designed for large group communications and work management, even for remote locations with 2G optimization.

Powered by Azure Cloud platform, `Kaizala` would help organisations seamlessly communicate, collaborate and complete tasks and bring together desktop users and mobile-only users who may be within or outside their organisations.

The company also announced the launch of `Kaizala Pro` - an enterprise version that allows organisations to have full administrative control of their groups.

`Kaizala` is available in India as a free download on iOS and Android phones. `Kaizala Pro` is available for purchase at a list price of Rs 130 per user per month.

"`Kaizala` brings together the two disparate worlds of mobile only messaging apps and a digitally integrated modern workplace. The product will make it possible for organisations to interact with everyone both within and outside, seamlessly and with rich content," Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, told reporters here.

"`Kaizala` has been optimised for 2G networks to enable connectivity in remote locations and offers features with offline support," he added.

The app users can simply get connected using their mobile phone numbers as their primary unique ID.

Using `Kaizala`, organisations can connect with their employees and the extended value chain.

"The product offers a simple and familiar chat interface and goes beyond to make everyone more productive using Surveys, Polls, Jobs, Meetings and other actions, right in your chats," added Rajiv Kumar, Corporate Vice President, Office Product Group, Microsoft.

`Kaizala` has seen significant adoption among organisations such as YES Bank, Apollo Telemedicine, Republic TV, United Phosphorous Limited and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, who are currently piloting the solution for their internal teams. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that the economic advisory body is an early adapter of the app.

"Delighted 2 launch Microsoft`s Kaizala-a safe, secure, mobile first App designed & developed in India. Niti was its first few adopters," Kant tweeted.

In addition, the Andhra Pradesh government is one of the first government organisations to use `Kaizala` for real-time governance.

More than 30 government departments and over 70,000 users in the state government are using `Kaizala` for day-to-day work.

Both `Kaizala` and `Kaizala Pro` are integrated with Microsoft Office 365.

Kaizala is a product of Microsoft Garage, which focuses on experimental ideas and projects.