Microsoft intended Kaizala to be a reliable messaging platform for frontline workers. However, the company’s Teams software offers most of Kaizala’s features and more. Microsoft has confirmed that it will shutter the Kaizala platform, and migrate all of its users to Teams. The transition has already begun, but the platform will be formally retired next year.
Microsoft officials have informed partners that the company is planning to retire the Kaizala service as of August 31, 2023. Support for messaging platform and access to the service will be discontinued thereafter. Microsoft has allowed all existing Kaizala customers to use the service. The company won’t be deprecating the platform but it won’t allow any new users to join the service. All new users will be directed towards the Teams platform, which offers chat, meetings, and calling.
Microsoft launched its Kaizala group-messaging service in 2016. Back then, the company promoted the service as a reliable communications platform for frontline workers. The messaging platform was part of Microsoft's experimental Garage division. Although Kaizala wasn’t popular in the US, Microsoft marketed the service to large organizations, promising easy, remote collaboration, and communication with overseas employees and service providers.
Kaizala offered some useful features such as the ability to create and conduct surveys, track tasks, send invitations to meetings, share locations, and even run polls. The service eventually became a part of Microsoft's Office 365 subscription and had several features that currently exist in Teams.
Ever since Microsoft launched Teams, the company has been keen to incorporate Kaizala into the comprehensive collaboration platform. Since the pandemic, many office goers transitioned into remote workers. This boosted the usage of platforms such as Teams, Slack, and more. The Teams platform already commands a respectable market share. Integrating Kaizala features into Teams should allow Microsoft to further increase the value proposition the service.
Source: ZDNet
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