Microsoft tweaks M365 support, pushes more frequent updates

Microsoft has made a series of changes to how Microsoft 365 (M365) support updates are done, and is encouraging enterprises to move to more frequent, or even monthly, software updates.

The company currently offers options for frequent, monthly, and semi-annual feature updates. With new and updated AI and Copilot tools being added to M365 at a brisk pace, more frequent updates could provide a more predictable rollout cycle.

For one, the company is scrapping a whole channel in which customers can preview features before mainstream enterprise deployment. Microsoft is discouraging customers who upgrade M365 twice a year from testing features before mainstream rollout.

Instead, the company is extending the ability to roll back features from one to two months in its monthly support plan. Essentially, it is telling companies to just roll out features into mainstream environments and giving them more time to rollback if updates don’t work.

“To remain secure and supported, organizations should immediately migrate devices to either Current Channel or Monthly Enterprise Channel to continue receiving early access to new features,” Microsoft said on its support page.

Specifically, the company is scrapping the preview version of the “Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel,” which includes twice-a-year feature updates for devices running automated workloads without the need for human operators. 

The “preview” channel is typically for customers who want to test features before proper deployment in critical environments where IT downtime isn’t an option, such as in financial or retail environments.

Beginning in July, M365 enterprise customers updating features once a month — or on the “Monthly Enterprise Channel” — will be able to roll back features within two months, giving them twice as long as the earlier timeline allowed.

Microsoft is making no changes to its mainstream “Current” channel, which provides updates as soon as new features are released. The company is also making no changes to a separate preview version of the Current channel in which customers can test features.

Regardless of channel, Microsoft provides bug fixes and security updates on a monthly basis to all customers. Microsoft also said it is also cutting the support timeline for the monthly software bug and security fixes in its “Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel” to from 14 months to eight.

That shifts the channel’s focus on unattended devices without human operators. These machines typically run automated operations such as number crunching or content delivery that do not require human intervention.