Microsoft Begins Enrollment for their Windows Insider Program for Business

Two months after announcing their intent to create a Windows Insider Program for Business, the Redmond company has now opened registration for the new program.

Richard Hay, Senior Content Producer

April 7, 2017

2 Min Read
Microsoft Begins Enrollment for their Windows Insider Program for Business

Back in February we shared news about Microsoft's plans to expand their very successful consumer based Windows Insider Program to business users.

This week they took the wraps off the Windows Insider Program for Business and are now accepting registrations from IT Pros and businesses.

Microsoft has been producing a lot of content over the last 20 months about Windows 10. That content focuses heavily on how businesses and IT Pros can prepare for deploying Windows 10 in their organizations and establishing their own system for slowly rolling out feature updates to their users.

IT Pros have been able to participate in the Windows Insider Program since its started back in October of 2014 however, participants had to use their personal Microsoft Accounts to enroll and obtain new testing builds. That also meant any feedback they provided through the Feedback Hub in Windows 10 would also be public. This of course could be an issue if that feedback included proprietary data about business systems and similar content. Business critical feedback can also get lost very quickly among all of the consumer related items in the Feedback Hub.

The Windows Insider Program for Business aims to address those concerns by allowing business users to sign up for the program using their Azure Active Directory credentials, providing a means to see feedback from program participants within their organization, and to better sort out blocking/critical issues within a companies network.

There will also be management tools so that admins can control who is participating and what ring they will receive testing builds from on their devices.

Microsoft says that it is important for businesses to have their own insider program to test these new updates:

"Incorporating Insider Preview Builds into your deployment plans enables you to prepare your organization for the next update of Windows 10, to deploy new services and tools more quickly, to help secure your applications, and to increase productivity and confidence in the stability of your environment."

If you are interested in getting started with your company you can register from the Windows Insider Program for Business portal.

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About the Author

Richard Hay

Senior Content Producer, IT Pro Today (Informa Tech)

I served for 29 plus years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer in November 2011. My work background in the Navy was telecommunications related so my hobby of computers fit well with what I did for the Navy. I consider myself a tech geek and enjoy most things in that arena.

My first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then I used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and WindowsObserver.com is the result of the work I have done on that site since 1995.

In January 2010 my community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when I received my first Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for the Windows Operating System. Since then I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP each subsequent year since that initial award. I am also a member of the inaugural group of Windows Insider MVPs which began in 2016.

I previously hosted the Observed Tech PODCAST for 10 years and 317 episodes and now host a new podcast called Faith, Tech, and Space. 

I began contributing to Penton Technology websites in January 2015 and in April 2017 I was hired as the Senior Content Producer for Penton Technology which is now Informa Tech. In that role, I contribute to ITPro Today and cover operating systems, enterprise technology, and productivity.

https://twitter.com/winobs

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