The business values of upgrading to Windows 10 v1903 / 19H1

As with all new Windows 10 releases, there are a bunch of new features and bells and whistles. To the business and end-users this can mean great benefits. Here are the business values of upgrading to Windows 10 version 1903 (also referred to as 19H1), from a business, security and IT perspective.

Note: Windows 10 v1903 / 19H1 is not yet released, the features exist only in current Insider builds, which are possible to try out if you opt your organization into Windows Insider for Business.

The business case

By deploying the Windows 10 v1903/19H1 update your organization can:

  • Save many minutes for each user in your entire organization
    Potentially you can save a few minutes times the X number of users per month in your organization, when your Windows devices are updated with new Windows updates. This is possible as the user login is done automatically after restart (with the screen locked of course), meaning your end users do not have to stare at the login screen waiting to start LOB apps.
  • End-user improvements for finding relevant resources
    Chrome integration with Timeline feature is added and improvements to searching and finding stuff is improved. This means that users can find relevant resources they are working on or have worked on faster than before. 
  • Reduction in help desk calls
    With the new features added in Windows 10 v1903/19H1 you can see a reduction of ~5%* or more help desk incidents and support calls. This is thanks to automated troubleshooters, disk space reservation changes and fixes that previously caused help desk calls.

Let’s break this down and go into more details!

Increase in user productivity

There are several new features and design changes that will increase user productivity.

  • Automatic sign-on after restart and updating saves many minutes!
    This time-saving feature is to this date only available for cloud-only domain joined Windows 10 devices, not domain joined, nor Hybrid Azure AD joined (although GPO configuration tend to state otherwise). What it means is that the end-user will save many minutes after each update and restart!
    The requirements for this is (except for cloud domain joined Windows 10 device): BitLocker enabled which is not suspended during upgrade, which in itself requires a TPM 2.0 chip and Secure Boot to be enabled.
  • Chrome Timeline extension
    The Timeline was introduced in Windows 10 v1803 and is a great way for the user to have all history of documents you worked on, sites you browsed etc. within a few clicks! With the Chrome Timeline extension (named Web Activities), the end-user will also see browsing history from Chrome in their Timeline.
  • Enhanced search and indexing
    The search feature in Windows 10 v1903/19H1 is now listing top used apps and recent activities (i.e. opened documents) providing easier and quicker access to recently used files and apps. At the same time, for power users, there is now an option to index the entire C: drive and not only what is available in the user data folder. The settings for this are found in Settings > Search > Searching Windows.
  • Restart without updating or upgrading 
    This feature has come and gone over the Windows 10 lifetime, but now it works as expected. Whenever a quality update or a feature update is installed, the user can now choose to shut down or restart without having to be forced to install the update. This is a real time-saver and can save the user quite some time and hassle as a forced updating of the device now has become optional.
  • Windows Light Theme
    This is not really something you can consider time or cost-saving but has the potential to really impact the end user. For the first time since Windows 10 launched in 2015, there is a new theme that means a better user experience if you prefer light colors and not dark. Switch to the Windows Light Theme by going to Settings > Personalization > Colors and choose Light in the drop down.

Reduction in support costs

Microsoft are adding new feature and have made design changes that will reduce support for Windows 10 starting with Windows 10 v1903/19H1.

  • Automated troubleshooters
    Ever since Windows 7 there are built in troubleshooters which can be used to ease the troubleshooting of Windows problems. Starting with Windows 10 v1903/19H1, Windows has the possibility to detect problems and prompt to run troubleshooters to fix problems, instead of the user having to call help desk.
  • WWAN connections for built-in SIM improvements
    If you have devices with built-in SIMs, now this works much more stable than ever. First, there has been a problem with if the connection is lost, it was impossible to re-connect without disabling the device from Device Manager. Now, if the connection is lost you can simply re-connect as expected. Another important change is that now you can via the UI change the WWAN connection to not be metered network, meaning everything will from an end-user perspective work as usual (thus with the impact that it will generate more data).
  • Reserved disk space minimizing problems
    With Windows as a Service it is imperative that the Windows device has enough disk space. With Windows 10 v1903/19H1 Microsoft has made the decision to reverse 7GB to be able to update itself. I think everyone can agree that a Windows device with 0 bytes left on the disk will with 100% certainty result in a help desk incident. This decision by Microsoft will not only reduce general support calls due to “out of disk space” issues, but also raise the possibilities that updates go well, which also reduces work load for IT.

Security

As with all new Windows 10 release, Windows 10 v1903/19H1 is no different. Security is a baseline pillar of the modern desktop and modern workplace, and with modern threats you cannot overlook this. Here are a couple of 

  • Complete secure browser experience, with Chrome, Edge and IE11
    Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) has been available for a few versions now and really provides a super secure browsing environment. As many organizations use Chrome (and some Firefox), now you can “tie up the sack” so to say and make sure that Chrome and Firefox also adhere to WDAG, using the WDAG extension for Chrome and Firefox. This way, you can use IE11 for the old legacy web apps, while using Chrome or Firefox for other internal or external apps and then Edge for creating an extremely secure browsing experience on the web. Of course, you can use only Edge and IE11 together as well, but many users tend to want to use Chrome after all. The dependency for using WDAG with Chrome and Firefox is to use the Windows Defender Application Guard Companion app (this is not needed if only using Edge and IE11).
  • Protection history for Windows Defender Exploit Guard features etc.
    Having history of protections for antivirus is something everyone expects and have solutions for, but what I want to highlight is that now you can find Exploit Guard protections here as well, meaning you can follow-up on actions related to Controlled Folders and Attack Surface Reduction. Go to Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Protection history to find the history.

For IT

  • Windows Sandbox
    The Windows Sandbox is a container solution where you quickly can get an isolated Windows 10 instance running, for testing stuff out. The use cases for this solution becomes a lot more when you consider there are config file possibilities!
  • A bunch of new MDM possibilities…
    Many new MDM policies are added, and to be more precise 70** MDM settings are new for Windows 10 v1903/19H1. A few of them are listed in Changes in MDM enrollment documentation. You can also see all possible settings by taking an MDM enrolled device, go to Settings > Accounts > Access work or school > <click your join and then click the Info button> > Export results, and look at the last section which lists all possible settings which can then be referenced and investigated for options.
  • …as well as new GPO settings
    In general we don’t see as many GPO settings added as MDM settings to each new Windows release, but some new GPO settings are for Storage Sense and Specifying deadlines for Windows Update restarts after quality or feature updates have been installed. 

Modern management and deployment

Note: The below is not related nor dependent on Windows 10 v1903/19H1 release and applies to previous Windows versions as well.

  • Some highlights of Intune improvements since last Windows release:
    • BitLocker encryption status and TPM version reports.
    • Win32 app deployment feature is now General Availability – plus troubleshooting possibilities are added.
    • Rename a device from the Intune console – pushed to the device.
    • Security baselines so that you can secure your Windows devices easily.
    • ADMX templates adding some additional hundreds of settings that you can configure on your Windows devices!

Summary

With the changed support statement detailed by Microsoft last summer, many organizations decided to skip the spring releases and only deploy the fall releases of Windows 10.

With the above I think you have a good understanding on how your organization can benefit of deploying Windows 10 v1903/19H1 in many ways, and you can make a qualified decision on whether or not you will deploy the spring/H1 release of Windows 10. 

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Foot note:

* Very rough estimation based on my soon four year-experience with Windows 10 in multiple organizations.
** Based on Insider build 18356 compared to Windows 10 v1809. This number can change.