Microsoft is in talks with State governments to expand Kaizala, a chat application aimed at enterprises, said Rajiv Kumar, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft.

Speaking to BusinessLine at the sidelines of an event here on Thursday, Kumar said currently only Andhra Pradesh is using the platform to reach out to citizens and also other governments. The company is now working with other State governments as well, where they are seeing increasing interest.

Unlike other chat applications available in the market, Kaizala allows millions of people to be connected in the group. Users can create hierarchy-based access and also group within the groups. For instance, the group created by the Andhra Pradesh on Kaizala platform has over two lakh users. Rather than flooded with messages, it allows the user to send responses or feedback on a topic created on the platform. It is also local data privacy law compliant. It helps government engage with citizens and other government departments better.

Kumar explained that now it has become necessary for the governments to use technology to engage with citizens, especially during the time of natural calamities such as floods and cyclones. Kaizala was launched a year back and is now commercially available across 28 markets in Asia, West Asia, Africa and South America. The tech giant is also looking to expand the reach of Kaizala to Office 365 commercial plans worldwide. The platform is now used by over 1000 organisations such as Narayana Health, YES Bank and Shopper’s Stop. Currently available in 18 Indian languages, there are plans to take it to over 45 languages.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW