Most task workers working in various organizations be it construction sites, manufacturing sites or retail shops all share one problem. They do not have a dedicated workspace or computer thus managers find it very hard to share important or sensitive information. Kaizala is the application designed to solve this problem. Kaizala means ‘what’s up’ in the Marathi Language.
Recently, Microsoft launched Kaizala which is basically a mobile-based application integrated with Office 365 for large group communication and work management. For now, the application is available in Kenya, India and the Philippines. Using Kaizala, businesses can now connect with large groups of people across their entire value chain on a single platform on their mobile phone. The application is however not just a chat-based application. It allows organizations to assign and track work in real time while also creating reports based on accumulated data.
So what makes this application different from all other mobile based applications?
Add and communicate with an unlimited number of users
Unlike other applications, the application does not have a limited number of users. You can add a whole country if you so desire. A business manager can add employees, front-line workers, customers, suppliers and citizens to their application. The organization can go further to create flat, hierarchical or discoverable public groups from contact lists, organization directories or ad-hoc sharing. Public groups can be used for interaction with third parties who are not part of the organization e.g. customers.
Once you open the ‘parent’ group which is for all the employees, you can go ahead to create ‘child’ groups under the parent group may be for the sales department, Finance department etc. A message sent to the parent group can be seen by all individuals but messages sent to the child group can only be seen by the members of the child group. All users from in or out of the organization are identified with their unique phone numbers.
Broadcast and Collect information in a structured way through action cards
This allows people to share announcements, photos, videos or documents and even host polls and surveys using action cards. For the surveys, one can set quick polls with multiple choice answers, set an expiry time for the surveys, generate kink to share the poll results and even download the poll results on excel spreadsheets. One can also track workforces using the hyperlocal location tracking.
Gathering information using built-in analytics
This way, organizations can view results in real time as they come in and organize that information to create reports that reach each level of the organization. This provides decision support for organizations as they map their way forward.
You can easily integrate Kaizala with your existing systems to push and pull information to and from the application.
Acquiring full ownership and control over data, insights, and information
The organization can decide who has access to the company data which is all protected by encryption in transit and at rest. All Kaizala data is stored in Microsoft Azure Datacenters which adhere to industry standard security and compliance certifications. There is also the option to remove and wipe data. The IT administrator also has the power to add people to the group in bulk or remove them in bulk too. Whenever a person leaves the organization, all other members will be privy to that information.
Once the organization gets to use the application, there is the option to upgrade to the Microsoft Kaizala Pro which offers premium features which include;
- user and group management
- system integration and automation via Microsoft Kaizala API’s advanced reporting and analytics
- ability to publish custom actions
- ability to create public groups
- Organizational profile and directory and support.
Some of the organizations that have been using Microsoft Kaizala since its soft launch in February 2017 include;
- M-KOPA Solar which provides solar energy. The application has been of great help in connecting remote sales force to initiate real-time data and application collection.
- Well, Told Story, an award-winning platform for empowering the youth- The application has helped them tap into unique social trend data which has helped them empower young people.
- Unilever- It improved engagement and communication in the Nairobi factory where they test run the application.
The application is available for download from the Google Play Store for Android and App Store for iOS. For Android, the phone must have a 4.3 or higher android version to be compatible with the application.
