Final answer:
To ensure only IT department users receive Office 365 preview features, the Microsoft 365 administrator should assign these users to the Targeted Release option and enable First Release specifically for them.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you are a Microsoft 365 administrator for a company and need to ensure that only the users in the IT department receive preview features before these features are deployed to other users, you should perform the following two actions:
- Assign the IT department users to the Targeted Release option. This allows specified users to receive new Office 365 feature updates before they are rolled out to the rest of the organization.
- Enable First Release options for the IT department users. First Release is part of the targeted release options, which can be configured in the Microsoft 365 admin center to provide access to preview features.
Creating a separate subscription for the IT department is unnecessary and costly, while configuring Office Insider options is typically for consumer Office 365 installations, not an organization-wide setting within an enterprise.