Expediting updates in the real world

[Guest Surabhi_Calla]

Have you ever wondered how other organizations are using expedited updates? The expedited update capability is enabled via Windows Update for Business deployment service in Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Graph. It fast-tracks installation of security updates without modifying your existing configurations. This is especially effective for responding to zero-day vulnerabilities. Our investments in expedited updates aim to increase peace of mind. No matter the complexity of your Windows 10 and 11 environments, we see strong evidence and user sentiment that expediting security updates with Windows Update for Business deployment service delivers customer success.

 

We owe our ongoing improvements to feedback from users like you. In this blog post, we’re excited to share stories from a few IT pros in general IT services, banking, and education who are using expedited updates to deliver success for their organizations, as well as our own experience at Microsoft. We close this post with additional resources for you to get the most out of expedited updates, and share some updates about new features we are working on to make expedite even better.

 

Highlights from expedite capability journeys

 

 

It’s encouraging to see how investments are working for organizations like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), ING, and Miami Dade County Public Schools. These organizations and many others who leverage expedited updates have told us it is:

 

• Effective for creating and maintaining a secure environment.
  
• Easy to use for IT admins.
  
• Quick to implement and obtain results.
  
• Adaptable to a variety of complex contexts and business goals.
  

 

Let’s now take a closer look.

 

Nasir Mulla, head of infrastructure services at TCS, emphasizes the peace of mind when discussing his use of expedited quality updates through Microsoft Intune. They’ve been using the expedited updates capability for more than a year now, including for the most recent September 2022 patch cycle that addressed a zero-day vulnerability. When celebrating that they are “able to achieve desired compliance for zero-day vulnerability within the defined SLA,” Nasir finds expedited updates to be effective, easy to use, quick to implement, and suitable for their business goal.

 

Peter Rausch, an IT engineer and administrator at ING, has similar perspectives on the advantages of using expedited updates around ease, timeliness, and unique organizational needs in the banking sector. Similar to Nasir, Peter prioritizes their commitment to act fast in securing their environment, while lightening the load of their IT talent.

 

If you’re in education, your challenges and opportunities may be quite different. You might identify more strongly with insights from Damien Kong, who is an IT administrator at Miami Dade County Public Schools:

 

 

"With limited IT staff it is extremely important to get the security updates out in a timely manner with as little user interaction required, Expedite meets this goal."

 

While security and timeliness define the IT pros’ success across all industries, we are encouraged to see how the expedite capability is adaptable to different contexts, needs, and possibilities.

 

At Microsoft, we also strongly believe in the power of expediting updates to ensure a secure environment for employee devices. Microsoft Digital is the team responsible for employee IT services. Its senior service engineer, Daniel Manalo, shares:

 

 

"We use expedite to deliver some security updates faster to employees' devices, without needing to completely change the way we normally service quality updates in our environment."

 

While security and timeliness define the IT pros’ success across all industries, we are encouraged to see how the expedite capability is adaptable to your different contexts, needs, and possibilities.

 

Which context, organization, or user do you identify with most closely? We always welcome feedback and collaboration with our users through various channels!

 

Opportunities to get the most out of the expedite capability

 

 

Take advantage of a wealth of opportunities to help keep your organization productive and secure. Visit our guides, blog posts, and event recaps to help you take full advantage of the latest improvements to the expedite capability:

 

• Use Intune to expedite Windows quality updates
  
• Troubleshooting expedited updates
  
• Video: How expedited security updates work
  
• Learn: Expedite Windows security updates
  
• Look for the new troubleshooting guide that will be published on Windows IT Pro Blog at Microsoft Technical Takeoff!
  
• Join our Windows Customer Connection Program Teams group for interactive questions and answers.
  

 

And, stay tuned for new capabilities that are currently under consideration and development thanks to the feedback that you share with us:

 

• Ability to expedite non-security quality updates: Microsoft publishes quality updates that address operability and/or quality issues that are not related to security. Nevertheless, they are considered urgent and essential for devices. With this capability, you will be able to expedite any quality update.
  
• Evaluation of device readiness for expedited updates: Some of you have shared feedback that you would like to know upfront if devices in your organization are healthy and prepared for a zero-day vulnerability scenario. We are working towards an effective solution, so you can fix device issues based on our recommendations prior to creating an actual expedite policy.
  
• New expedite report in Windows Update for Business reports: We are working on a new intuitive report that will show you how your expedite policy is performing. This report will provide a detailed view of each device's state within a policy and aid you in troubleshooting with recommendations for error mitigation.
  

 

Thanks so much for sharing your journeys with us and other users. We rely on your insights and partnership to help us continue to deliver productivity and protection to more organizations like yours.

 

 

Continue the conversation. Find best practices. Visit the Windows Tech Community.

Stay informed. For the latest updates on new releases, tools, and resources, stay tuned to this blog and follow us @MSWindowsITPro on Twitter.

 

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