public static void swapShift(string shiftDate, string otherID)
        {
            var url = "https://myshiftplannercloud.azurewebsites.net/api/ChatBot/SwapShift?employeeID=joe512";
            var syncClient = new WebClient();
            var data = "&date=" + shiftDate + "&swapwith=" + otherID;
            syncClient.UploadString(url, data);
        }

// Other (hopefully) unrelated code goes here

if (activity.Text.ToUpper().Contains("SWAP"))
            {
                ConnectorClient connector = new ConnectorClient(new Uri(activity.ServiceUrl));
                string dateInput = activity.Text.Substring((activity.Text.IndexOf("/") - 2), 8);
                DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(dateInput, "dd/MM/yy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
                string dateOutput = date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
                string userID = "Frank";
                swapShift(dateOutput, userID);
                Activity reply = activity.CreateReply($"I've swapped your shift with " + userID + " and let your manager know");
                await connector.Conversations.ReplyToActivityAsync(reply);
            }