GitHub is an extremely popular, web-based repository hosting service that allows developers to store their Git repos in a central location. 

GitHub Enterprise is one of GitHub’s many product offerings. Tailored for mid-size to large companies, GitHub Enterprise includes enhanced code management solutions, additional code security features, automation support, and a range of additional features for optimizing workflows.

In this article, we’ll cover the top five reasons your business should use GitHub Enterprise for your repository hosting needs.

Enhanced Security

One of the main draws of GitHub Enterprise is its enhanced security features which include, self-hosted or on-premise deployment, customizable authentication, and fine-grain access controls. These features help companies to protect their intellectual property as well as avoid security breaches.

Self-hosted: unlike hosting your Git repositories on GitHub’s public platform, GitHub Enterprise allows you to build and ship your code from your own server providing an additional layer of security.

Customizable authentication: GitHub Enterprise offers the ability to control how access is granted to specific repositories. For example, you could set permissions for only users [x] and [y] to access a repo as well as require that those users authenticate using SSO. 

Access controls: individuals on the GitHub Enterprise plan are assigned a role such as “owner,” “billing manager,” or “member.” Using this role classification, you can set repo/settings permissions across teams and departments. 

And GitHub Enterprise takes security a step further than just protecting your code from prying eyes. It also identifies and alerts you to potential vulnerabilities in your company’s code allowing you to fix them before they ship to production.

Better Collaboration

GitHub Enterprise offers a range of features, such as code reviews and project boards, designed to streamline collaboration among development teams. These features enable teams to work together more efficiently, resulting in faster deployment cycles and improved code quality. 

Code reviews: this feature is built in to every pull request made by your team members and allows you to quickly view the file history, diffs, and blame information. You’ll also have the ability to make comments on pull requests and each team member can easily submit their code for review.

Project boards: these provide a central location for development teams to collaborate on repositories. Teams can add issues, pull requests, comments, and automations to these boards based on their specific needs. Up to 25 repos can be added to a single board.

Increased Scalability

As your business grows, your code management solutions naturally grow with you. GitHub Enterprise boasts workflow and administration features specifically built to scale alongside your organization. 

High availability and load balancing are two perfect features that demonstrate how GitHub Enterprise helps businesses grow confidently. A high availability configuration allows your organization to set up a second server as a backup for your primary instance. You’ll never have to worry about the fallout that comes with a corrupted server. Load balancing provides your organization with the ability to manage server utilization by directing traffic across your servers to ensure optimal speed and performance. 

GitHub Enterprise also makes it easy for systems administrators to manage individual users, projects, teams, and repositories with its user-friendly interface. This can be a huge bonus if your admin doesn’t have a robust background in software development. Rather than having to search around for how to accomplish their desired task, the easy to navigate UI and clear documentation makes it easy for them to keep things flowing smoothly.

As your business grows, you’ll need to be sure you are operating in compliance with regulatory entities. GitHub Enterprise helps companies meet compliance requirements with features such as audit logs, compliance certifications, and compliance workflows allowing you to focus on growing while avoiding regulatory penalties.

Automated Workflows

GitHub Enterprise makes it easy for companies to automate and customize their processes with features like workflow automation, GitHub Actions, and automated APIs. 

These feature allow development teams to define custom workflows that automatically update based on assigned triggers like a commit. Not only do these resources save your team time and energy, they also allow your teams to tailor their workflows to meet their specific preferences and ensure that they operate at maximum efficiency.

Dedicated GitHub Support

As an Enterprise user, you’ll have access to the very best support from the GitHub team. There are a few support tiers your company can consider, Enterprise, Premium, and Premium Plus. While the basic Enterprise level support is already fantastic, you may want to consider opting for the Premium or Premium Plus service because these services include perks like one-on-one best practice tutorials, phone support, screen share troubleshooting, and priority ticket handling to name just a few.  

*Bonus* Integration With GitKraken Client

If your company uses GitHub Enterprise be sure to pair it with GitKraken Client, the best Git GUI of 2023 for even more productivity benefits. GitKraken Client’s integration allows you to perform the following actions.

• Automatically generate an SSH key and add it to GitHub Enterprise
• Save authentication into profiles
• Clone repos from the your GitHub Enterprise repo list
• Add remotes for GitHub Enterprise repos
• Create and view Pull Requests

These integration benefits just barely scratch the surface of GitKraken Client’s capabilities. With its easy to understand visuals, intuitive UI, built in command line, team workspaces, and valuable repository insights metrics, GitKraken Client is the perfect tool to take your development to the next level.

Try Out GitHub Enterprise

GitHub Enterprise’s range of features designed to help your company scale and maximize output make it a compelling option. 

If you’re considering adopting GitHub Enterprise try it out for yourself by visiting their website and starting a free 30-day trial.