by Sylvester Addo | Aug 27, 2018 | General, Microsoft Africa
Microsoft’s large group communications and work management application, Kaizala Pro now commercially available in Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.
Kaizala Pro became commercially available recently in Kenya where it had also been in testing. Microsoft has confirmed the chat and management based solution is now commercially available in the Middle East and Africa region. Microsoft’s Collaboration Product Marketing Manager for Middle East and Africa, Oray Erkus announced this in a blog post.
Microsoft’s Kaizala app is a mobile app that helps businesses connect with their workforce and supply chain. A platform for large group communications and work management. Businesses can organize and allocate tasks with built-in and custom Actions. They can also get actionable information and insights to accelerate decision-making.
One way Microsoft says Kaizala thrives is how easy it is to connect and coordinate work with an entire value chain. That includes field employees, vendors, partners and customers wherever they maybe.
Microsoft Kaizala makes it easy to connect and coordinate with your Firstline workers. – wherever they are – using a simple-to-use chat interface. Efficiently manage work or collect data from individuals or large groups, even if they’re not in your organization. View built-in reports to get insights for faster decision making. Kaizala is available with Office 365 and works on iPhone and Android phone.
Dux Raymond Sy of AvePoint describes Kaizala as a tool that “empower and make firstline workers more productive. Firstline workers are those employees who are crucial to the success of a business but don’t necessarily work at a desk”. He shares on Microsoft Kaizala vs WhatsApp and Kaizala in Office 365, if you’ll like to know the differences and integrations.
Microsoft Kaizala is the Workplace of the Future
Oray Erkus says Microsoft’s Kaizala app is the workplace of the future. “When you hear the phrase “workplace of the future”, you may think of futuristic robotic office assistants, virtual company meetings and 4D presentations. However, mobile technology is enabling businesses to digitally transform their operations and adapt to the workplace of the future in tangible, workable ways, right now“.
Read more about Microsoft Kaizala Pro to understand how it can help your startup, SME or large organization. As well as the benefits that come with using it.
by MCGH Admin | Aug 15, 2018 | General, Microsoft Africa, Microsoft Kenya
PRESS RELEASE: MICROSOFT LAUNCHES ‘KAIZALA PRO’ IN KENYA
A mobile app for large, secure group communications and work management
Nairobi, August 14th, 2018 …. Microsoft’s latest mobile offering, Kaizala Pro, is now commercially available across Kenya. Microsoft Kaizala is a mobile app that improves the way businesses communicate and collaborate. It’s designed for large group communication, workflow management, reporting and analytics, and is integrated with Office 365.
Sebuh Haileleul is the County Manager for Microsoft in Eastern Africa says the app addresses several challenges faced by many businesses across the region who manage field staff remotely.
“Mobile technology is enabling businesses to embrace the fourth industrial revolution and digitally transform their operations. Microsoft Kaizala is ideal for organisations that need to communicate with large numbers of task workers to enhance business agility, collaboration, and organisational productivity,” he says.
Kaizala also provides actionable information through analytics and reports, while complying with industry security best practices.
Impact of Kaizala on businesses
Unlike other chat-based apps in the market, Kaizala extends beyond a mere communication function. Because many workers in the region often don’t have an email address, Kaizala only requires a mobile number to sign a user up. The app is also optimised to work on any network – including slow 2G networks. Some of its other unique features include the ability to:
1. Communicate with and manage an unlimited number of users. This includes employees, front-line workers, customers, suppliers and citizens. Organisations can create flat, hierarchical or discoverable public groups in minutes from contact lists, directories or ad hoc sharing. For users in remote areas, the app is optimised to work on slow 2G networks and users don’t need an email address to sign up, only a mobile number.
2. Broadcast and collect information in a structured way through action cards. This includes sharing announcements; photos, videos or documents; hosting polls or surveys; assigning tasks; providing training content; marking attendance; and tracking workforces using location tracking.
3. Gather rich insights from data with built-in analytics. Organisations can view results in real-time, organise large amounts of information with an aggregated view of user responses and get reports at each level of the organisation.
What is included in Microsoft Kaizala Pro?
Microsoft Kaizala Pro has premium features that include, user and group management, system integration and automation using Microsoft Kaizala APIs, advanced reporting and analytics,
ability to publish custom Actions, ability to create public groups, organisational profile and directory, and support.
Security is paramount
With Kaizala, customer’s messages, photos, video files, audio files, documents, polls, surveys, and other data is protected by encryption in-transit and at-rest. Managers can decide who has access to company data. All Kaizala data is stored in Microsoft Azure datacentres, which adhere to industry standard security and compliance certifications.
“This means only you and the people with whom you are communicating can see what you have sent them,” says Sebuh. “Microsoft Kaizala is currently Tier-A compliant and our engineers do not have access to any customer data,” Sebuh adds.
Using Microsoft Kaizala, organisations can connect with their employees and the extended value chain. The product offers a simple and familiar chat interface but goes beyond this to make everyone more productive.
Kenyan-based solar energy company, M-KOPA Solar, now has more than half a million customers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. M-KOPA Solar couldn’t have achieved this growth without providing the underlying communication and payment technology that people can access easily by phone. M-KOPA uses the Microsoft Kaizala app to connect its sales team and provide essential resources to rural communities.
The company has grown from 5,000 customers in its first year to more than 600,000 as of January 2018—more than 120 times the original customer base. The app that helping fuel M-KOPA’s growth is Microsoft Kaizala.
Another company taking advantage of the benefits provided by Microsoft Kaizala is Well Told Story, which is using the app as a research tool, putting it into the hands of their network of young people to run surveys and interviews for them. This empowers the youth with jobs and income, while also giving Well Told Story the rich insights to fuel their youth media business.
“As we roll out Microsoft Kaizala in Kenya we hope to connect the complete value chain, including the unconnected parts of organisations. Microsoft’s vision for Kaizala, is to empower every organisation and community to achieve more through purposeful chat,” Sebuh concludes.
Learn more at www.microsoft.com/kaizala.
Ends
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by Sylvester Addo | Mar 28, 2018 | 4Afrika, app, General, Microsoft Africa, Microsoft Kenya
Using Microsoft Kaizala App, Mawingu Networks boosts productivity and cut costs
Mawingu Networks Limited are one of the early testers of Microsoft’s Kaizala app in Kenya before its official launch.
Based in Kenya, Mawingu Networks focuses on connecting rural and unconnected communities in Africa to the internet. By using TV Whitespaces; a high performance low cost wireless technology, it is able to offer internet access using hotspots and broadband services to individuals and SMEs in rural areas.
Microsoft’s Kaizala app is a mobile application that enhance business agility, collaboration and organizational productivity. Built for emerging markets it helps with large group communication and work management.
“Using Microsoft Kaizala app has greatly enhanced our internal communications and enhanced our operations. – Tim Hobbs, Mawingu Networks Ltd. CEO“
Speaking about how transformative Kaizala has been to Mawingu, Director and CEO Tim Hobbs said; Our main goal was to improve communication between the field and office teams. Simplify the data collection process and save time in reporting. Kaizala ensures clean lines of communication, customer and partner feedback within the organization.
With Microsoft Kaizala, Mawingu Network Ltd. can easily track and assign work to field teams. Mawingu is also now able to better monitor its over 1000 hotspots in outlying areas.
Other uses are collecting customer information and feedback in real-time during sales activations. Monitor installations and effectively manage field teams remotely. This saves time through automated reporting.
“Right now we are able to develop a survey form on Kaizala and broadcast to our field team. We can then access and analyse the feedback using analytic tools like Power BI. This saves us time and money. We are also able to tweak and customise Kaizala app with the help of Microsoft(developers) to meet our unique needs”. –
Organizations such as Unilever and M-KOPA Solar have already tried and tested Kaizala in their daily operations. Download Microsoft Kaizala app through your device app store. You can alternatively email KaizalaDev@microsoft.com to get a preview (after NDA and Terms & Conditions) of the developer SDK to build your own extensions to meet your unique needs.
