One of the challenges with running any pilot program is managing who gets access.
That challenge becomes even more noticeable when the pilot involves AI features that are evolving rapidly and where organizations want to carefully control participation, gather feedback, and expand access over time.
Microsoft is now, finally, making that process significantly easier for organizations using the Frontier program.
Starting in June 2026, administrators will be able to use Entra ID groups to manage Frontier enrollment directly from the Frontier Admin Control in the Microsoft 365 admin center. While this may sound like a relatively small administrative improvement, it removes one of the biggest practical obstacles organizations have faced when running Frontier pilots at scale.
There is also an interesting governance benefit that is easy to overlook.
Until now, managing Frontier enrollment typically required access to the Frontier Admin Control, which meant administrators needed to hold Global Administrator or AI Administrator permissions. In organizations using Privileged Identity Management (PIM), this often required checking out elevated privileges simply to add or remove pilot participants.
With group-based enrollment, the responsibility can shift closer to the business. Once an administrator assigns an Entra ID group to Frontier, day-to-day membership management can be handled by the group’s owners. This means pilot coordinators, project leads, or adoption champions can manage participation without requiring elevated administrative roles or repeatedly activating privileged access.
For organizations working to reduce administrative overhead and follow least privilege principles, this may prove to be just as valuable as the group support itself.
