This article will explore Microsoft Kaizala’s uses for collaborative business projects, as well as its integration potential with Microsoft Teams.
What is Microsoft Kaizala?
Kaizala is a Microsoft 365 application for work management and messaging that can be used to collaborate with others. It provides a platform for receiving and sending instant messages, submitting invoices, and coordinating tasks. Incorporating Kaizala into a work environment provides employees with access to the essential tools so that they can stay connected with team members and manage their own schedules. In addition, this app provides a way for users securely interact with those within or outside their organization, no matter where they are located.
The word “Kaizala” in Marathi translates to “what happened.” It has been a very popular application in India since its inception 2016 because it can work on a low bandwidth, thus making it a good option for those who cannot access high-speed internet. Although it was primarily intended for use in the business sector, Kaizala has applications for individual use and is also a helpful tool that can be used throughout organizations or communities. This app can be downloaded for free app at both iOS and Android stores.
Kaizala’s Main Features
In addition to Kaizala’s core chat functions, this application also provides users with many other helpful tools and features designed for collaborative endeavors:
- The Job feature can be used to assign various tasks to colleagues, as well as to monitor their status with the help of chat messages.
- Kaizala’s Poll/Survey feature provides a way for users to create custom polls that can be used to collect information from both internal and external stakeholders such as colleagues, clients, or customers.
- This app’s Location feature makes it possible for Kaizala users to request the GPS position of a colleague or share their location with coworkers.
- The Checklist feature is useful for sharing task lists with other group members.
- Kaizala’s Submit bill can take a picture of an invoice and then share this image with others.
Kaizala also has three kinds of groups available:
- Flat groups pertain to a group of users who can be sent messages as one unit. This is a great resource for project teams to use to keep in touch about progress.
- Hierarchical groups are used when an organization needs to make a sub-group of another group. For example, a group may consist of everyone who works in a company, whereas a sub-group would be made up of just the members of one department.
- Public groups in Kaizala offer private chat options between the group’s administrator and the members of the group. These groups may be useful for organizations that wish to reach out to specific customers, as well as government agencies looking to communicate information to constituents.
Kaizala Vs. Microsoft Teams
Kaizala was created to help companies with some of the main challenges they encounter to help them better work with first-line workers. In particular, Kaizala is geared toward temporary workers and contractors. It also was intended to be a compliment to Microsoft Teams.
Kaizala bears many similarities to Teams. It allows organizations to manage groups much like they would using Teams, and provides a way for colleagues to send messages to one another. In addition, this app can be used to gather analytics about a company’s workforce, just like Teams. And, like Teams, it provides access to various other Microsoft 365 apps.
Unlike Teams, Kaizala was created specifically for professional business use. In addition, while Teams offers support for employees who have an account with Microsoft, Kaizala is intended more for transient workers who may not be formally established within the hierarchy of an organization. For example, Kaizala is a good option for employers like ski resorts that hire seasonal workers who may only be needed for one season.
In addition, many companies currently use Teams alongside Kaizala such as airline operators. In fast-paced work environments, Teams aids with project management and collaboration, whereas Kaizala is more useful for short-term service and shift staffing.
Integrating Kaizala Vs. Microsoft Teams
In April 2019, Microsoft announced plans to bring together Kaizala and Teams in the Microsoft 365 suite. Teams offerers an opportunity to extend Kaizala’s capabilities for calling, chatting, meeting, and collaborating, as well as file storage and app integration. In addition, the functionality of Teams could be extended even further into workplace environments by bringing these two apps together.
This powerful integration offers the opportunity to bring the capabilities of both applications into a single platform that can help businesses provide a better working environment for all employees while at the same time ensuring that everyone has access to the same security standards and resources. Although plans to integrate features from Kaizala Pro into Teams were underway in 2019, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Microsoft decided to change its course of action somewhat. A new plan was established to bring the capabilities of Kaizala into Teams in phases over the course of 12-18 months. Currently, some capabilities of Kaizala Pro are available in Teams such as surveys, polls, quizzes, and checklists.
Even though Teams has grown in popularity over the past several years to help workers and students work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaizala still remains a valuable collaboration option. It is especially popular for Microsoft 365 users, because it can integrate with other Microsoft 365 apps and products such as Excel, Power BI, and SharePoint.
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