At the company’s Ignite Australia, Director of Program Management for Operating System Fundamentals and Product Owner of the Insider Program, Bill Karagounis said that WIP4Biz’s major goal is to “make Insider systems and capabilities more friendly and easier to fit into your business environments.”
Microsoft’s WIP4Biz vision
WIP4Biz will be a broad-ranging extension of the existing Windows Insiders Program. It will include engagement through dedicated forums, blogs, and events; regular surveys with IT Pros; and extensive documentation to support those organizations deploying Insider builds. For example, organizations will be able to upvote reported issues that are also important to other companies, or other parts of their own business. Microsoft hopes this will ensure that the most important issues are fixed quickly and completely. Karagounis said that Microsoft wants there to be a deeper, and ongoing, focus on Windows 10 development on things that are critical in corporate and business environments. According to Karagounis’ presentation, “[Microsoft] will be offering new experiences including software tools and a community to serve IT Professionals around the world.” The key goals of WIP4Biz as presented by Karagounis are: “Bring Commercial Insiders into the community
Build a community of like-minded individuals to share information Create experiences to build excitement and engagement with WIP Advocate for the needs of the community with product changes including software updates and the supporting communication
Get feedback on commercial features/functionalities
Provide a scalable feedback mechanism for Insiders at all levels Listen to businesses’ and Insiders’ needs and requirements Test our new commercial features, migrate business workflows to pre-release software where appropriate and provide feedback
Support Windows Commercial deployment
Deliver information about new features in Windows and the benefits to the Insider’s organization while supporting end user adoption Offer a channel to have a real-time dialogue with WIP and Microsoft Share success stories, provide role models and connections.”
Registering for WIP4Biz
Microsoft announced on the official Windows Insider Program website that it will gradually introduce the WIP for Business “in the coming months.” Those who are interested in registering their organizations for WIP4Biz can do so here. Microsoft says that “Insiders may need to take additional action to access new features when they are made available”. Insiders who complete the pre-registration form will receive instructions for accessing these features.
