Microsoft To Sunset Kaizala Messaging Service in 2023
Microsoft announced that it will be ending its Kaizala messaging service next year.
Microsoft has already blocked new Kaizala subscriptions as of Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. Microsoft wants prospective Kaizala users to use the Microsoft Teams collaboration service instead.
Existing Kaizala users also are being encouraged to switch to Teams. They’ll no longer be able to use Kaizala in about a year, starting on Aug. 31, 2023. Existing Kaizala users, though, can add new Kaizala users up to the Aug. 31, 2023 end date.
Microsoft’s plans seem to apply to both Kaizala as used through Microsoft subscriptions and its free Kaizala app. The announcements didn’t specify any product exceptions.
Under Microsoft’s Modern Lifecycle Support policy, Microsoft just commits to “a minimum of 12 months’ notification prior to ending support if no successor product or service is offered.” In this case, Microsoft sees Teams as the successor product that mostly fulfills the same functions as Kaizala.
Microsoft does admit, though, that Teams doesn’t provide full equivalents for all of Kaizala’s functions.
“For specific Kaizala functionality that isn’t yet available in Teams, we’ll be posting an updated timeline in the future,” Microsoft stated in this “Kaizala and Microsoft Teams” document.
Kaizala and Teams
Kaizala was notable for simplifying the use of messaging and video communications on mobile phone devices, while also promising “enterprise-grade security,” per Microsoft’s past descriptions.
A Kaizala Pro version was announced about three years ago that specifically was integrated with Microsoft Teams and available to organizations via Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscription plans. Microsoft had killed off a Kaizala Pro standalone product, though, back on July 1, 2020.
While Microsoft had described Kaizala Pro capabilities as being “complementary” with Teams, they may have been somewhat duplicative as well. Many of the Kaizala apps (called “actions”) show up as Teams app templates, according to the “Kaizala and Microsoft Teams” document:
Kaizala Pro capabilities are now available in Teams and include Kaizala actions that are now available as Teams app templates, such as polls, surveys, checklists, quizzes, and training. We have recently released the capability for any Teams users to interact with external users through their phone numbers. View the blog and article to learn more.
Transition Support
Microsoft offers a somewhat repetitive series documents to help organizations shift to Microsoft Teams, plus some videos, and an “Exploratory” license offering. Here’s the list of available resources, as described in the lifecycle announcement:
Microsoft also told its partners to prepare for questions about Teams capabilities and transition steps. This moment is viewed as an “opportunity” for partners, both in terms of assisting organizations in moving to Teams and in selling Office 365 or Microsoft 365 licenses.
“We anticipate this announcement may spark an increased volume of inquiries from customers with specific questions about Kaizala support, Teams capabilities, transition planning resources, and even exception requests for support past August 2023,” the partner announcement stated.
