Microsoft Corp. is rolling out the Pro version of Kaizala, an app similar to WhatsApp, to Office365 subscribers for free in an apparent effort to take on the Facebook Inc.-owned messaging service.

Kaizala, started as a Microsoft Garage project in India, is pitched as a simple and secure mobile app for which users can easily sign up using their phone number, mimicking Whatsapp. In a blog post Monday, Microsoft described the app as enabling “networks of people to connect and coordinate work across their roles, spanning firstline workers, vendors, partners, suppliers, customers and citizens.”

According to ZDNet, the Pro version includes more group management, advanced reporting and analytics and other capabilities not in the free version.

Although it doesn’t support video calls, the app does provide free WiFi messaging among mobile devices as well as allowing customers to create group chats among specific departments and teams.

Along with one-on-one chats and group chats, Kaizala supports hierarchical chats, which are said to allow for greater control over whom a user is sharing information with.

Although the service is, at least until now, virtually unknown outside of India, it has been well-received within that country. More than 30 government departments use the service in Andhra Pradesh, with more than 70,000 users.

Given that Kaizala is a new service, it’s difficult to ascertain whether it will find a willing audience elsewhere. But Microsoft has gone down this path before and done well in the process.

Microsoft rolled out Microsoft Teams, a direct competitor to Slack Inc., in March 2017 before offering a free version in July. Even before its launch, one analyst predicted in January 2017 that Microsoft Teams would have more users within two years than Slack.

Although exact numbers are not clear, it is by all accounts a big success for Microsoft. As of September, Microsoft claimed Teams is the fastest-growing app in Microsoft history, with 329,000 organizations using the service, up from 200,000 in March, including 87 of the top Fortune 100 companies.

Kaizala is a bit more out there than Microsoft Teams, but long gone are the days where Microsoft launches new products that inevitably fail. At the very least, Kaizala is an app to watch.

Image: Microsoft