Microsoft takes on WhatsApp with space-saving SkypeLite

A digital journey won't begin if the identity system of the services used is not controlled, said Microsoft's Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella, adding, "Aadhaar gives India that opportunity."

"Most amazing feature of Aadhaar is that over a billion people can be identified in real time. This has brought about a complete change in the way we think about technology," he said at the company's Future Decoded event in Mumbai.

The company on Tuesday launched a few projects in India that would use the government identification card number for identification.

'Project Sangam' -- a skill-development-based jobs platform-- aims to connect the skills learning programs directly with relevant jobs, by leveraging the power of LinkedIn's extensive job search platform. This will allow users to register using their Aadhaar identity.

The project that aims to give a major push for Skill India' mission will commence from Andhra Pradesh.

"Project Sangam is potentially a good idea but there is a lack of job liquidity. Until there are enough jobs to balance both the demand and supply sides, this project will not be fruitful," said Alok Shende, co-founder and lead analyst at Ascentius Consulting.

Nadella said Aadhaar system brings in efficiency for cashless and paperless transactions.

"At Microsoft, we aim to empower every Indian and every Indian organisation to achieve more," he said, adding, "With the transformative power of the cloud, we are enabling Indian start-ups, businesses of all sizes, and government agencies to build new digital capability, find new growth and seize the opportunities ahead."

He also launched two applications -- SkypeLite and Kaizala -- for the mobile-first and mobile-only markets. SkypeLite, which promises communication even with low-bandwidth networks, will come with the Aadhaar in-app authentification feature by June 2017.

Users of the app, which is available in seven local languages, will be able to authenticate the identity of unknown callers in a variety of situations where verification is required, including job interviews, goods and property sale.

"WhatsApp has already taken over the entire market, hence, this is going to be a challenge," said Shende, adding that Skype is traditionally a very heavy application (space consuming) and by introducing Skype Lite, Microsoft is only doing something which it should have done long back.

Nadella also spoke about Kaizala, a productivity app that helps organisations connect with mobile-only users to get work done on a chat interface.Nadella believes India needs information tools and that is what Kaizala will do by bringing all the government departments together. "For the government officials to monitor, seal and secure the data, this messaging-oriented application is useful, and is even more important to create a data asset," he said.

However, any procurement policy needs a mandate from the upper level. "It's a little premature to say that it is going to be used by the state governments until it gets the required approval. If it goes on cloud, it will become virtually impossible to use it on a government level," Shende of Ascentius said.

He believes digital transformation is not only in the purview of larger business but is also available for small and medium enterprises to drive productivity improvement.

Last week, Tata Motors announced a strategic tie-up with global software giant Microsoft Corp to develop connected vehicle technologies using artificial intelligence (AI), advanced machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

After auto, Nadella says, it's the financial sector that's going through a tremendous change in technology "by making credit decisions using data". Hence, making a prominent move, State Bank of India (SBI), country's largest public sector unit bank— has signed Microsoft's Office365, a cloud service, to drive communication and collaboration among its employees.