YC孵化企业CareLedger希望为员工提供免费医疗
今日，数字医疗创业公司CareLedger从美国创业孵化器Y Combinator毕业，将为世界各地工作者提供免费、高品质的医疗服务。
这可是个不小的壮举。美国拥有全世界最昂贵又最低效的医疗服务系统，医疗开销比其他国家高出成千上万美元。而根据国际卫生机构（International Health Policy）的调查结果，美国的医疗效果和质量却差强人意。
有很多组织都在为了降低医疗保健开销而努力着，从Y Combinator孵化出的另一企业SimplyInsured打算通过分析成千上万的保险计划，从而降低医疗开销，向企业员工提供最佳的报销利率。新型医保公司Oscar Health通过技术手段向用户提供免费服务。不管怎样，医疗质量才是关键。
CareLedger的推荐服务使用了一种略为不同的方法——进行价格比较。这种做法的目的是，在雇主医保可承受的价格范围内，选出最好的服务再进行推荐。
CareLedger的联合创始人Oliver Takach说，雇主只有在开销确实降低的情况下，才用向我们付费。
举个例子，一项结肠镜检查开销可能在1000-1500美元。CareLedger会在1500美元的范围内找到评级好的医生，或是在雇主医保预算限额内的医生。公司承诺会给工作者们免费的医疗帮助，包括没有免配额、没有自付率或是共同支付项目。
CareLedger会根据你的地理位置、方便程度，从资料名单里选择医生，然后预约诊疗。CareLedger并不会在服务完毕后发送账单，所有的医疗援助也应该是免费的。
这个想法让人难以置信：针对工薪阶层的免费品质医保！与此同时，Walmart，“永远最低价”的连锁超市，也试着用同样的方式向人们提供优惠的医疗保健和免费服务。
GE and Lowe’s也在所谓的“卓越中心（Centers of Excellence）”计划下，免费提供特定手术，如髋关节和膝关节置换手术的费用报销。
“CareLedger做的也是‘卓越中心’这样的计划，但是不用你奔波去完成手续和测试。”联合创始人Oliver Takach说道。
“CareLedger也能从免费流程中获得报酬，但雇主们只在我们公司把员工但医疗费用较低到一定程度时才用付费。这既节省了员工的费用，也免去了雇主可能面临的昂贵开销。”
“你可以看到平均价格，某个地区单个流程的固定价格，然后再是我们的价格，也是你实际要支付的价格。不同之处在于，我们的百分比是不一样的。雇主不用向我们付费，除非我们的确帮助他降低了费用。”Takach说。
CareLedher声称，在超过600项步骤和检测中，平均可以节省高达50%的费用。
来源：TC
硅谷
2015年07月22日
硅谷
客户体验管理平台Medallia获1.5亿美元融资
提供客户体验管理云服务（SaaS）的Medallia刚刚获得了红杉资本的1.5亿美元融资，估值已达12.5亿美元。
Medallia是一家提供客户体验管理软件即服务（SaaS）的初创企业，成立于2001年，总部位于Palo Alto，现有员工700人。
客户关系管理（CRM）与客户体验管理（CEM）都是与客户打交道的平台，所不同的是前者主要负责前期跟踪和管理销售交互，而后者则是在售后对客户数据进行分析以提供更好的服务。
Medallia的SaaS CEM平台可以从web（网上评论）、社交媒体、移动以及联络中心收集客户反馈，对收集到的数据进行实时分析并采取行动，从而改善客户体验、提高客户忠诚度、留存率并推动收入增长。与竞争对手相比，Medallia 的Insights服务是其差异化优势，该洞察服务可以在客户遇到问题时提供实时分析。
Medallia的服务主要针对6个行业，其中包括零售、金融服务、酒店、电信、汽车以及B2B提供商。Verizon、Macy’s、Sephora、SAP、Honeywell、富国银行、索尼、Four Seasons、Sodexo及梅赛德斯等均是它的客户。
跟前几轮一样，这次的融资仍由红杉资本领投（尽管成立很早，但Medallia直到2011年才开始第一轮融资），所得融资将用于新功能开发并进行市场扩张。此轮过后，Medallia的总融资额已达2.55亿美元，下一步应该就是IPO了。
Medallia Raises $150 Million in Equity Financing to Continue Rapid Growth
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Medallia®, a leading SaaS provider of Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions, today announced that it has raised $150 million in growth equity capital in a round led by Sequoia Capital. This new investment follows a period of rapid growth, during which Medallia welcomed a number of additional large enterprise customers to its client base, substantially grew revenue, launched partnerships with several prominent professional services firms and expanded its global operating footprint.
"Consumers are increasingly making purchase decisions based on customer experience data like online reviews and social media feedback rather than pre-existing brand recognition. To deliver consistently great experiences, leading companies are shifting from merely collecting customer feedback to engaging with consumers and embedding their feedback directly into operations," said Borge Hald, CEO and co-founder of Medallia. "Our recent round of funding is an important step in our journey to build customer experience into the DNA of the world's companies and change the way they operate."
Medallia first raised venture funding in late 2011, and has now raised a total of $255 million. The company plans to use this most recent investment in a two-pronged plan to further enhance its operations, with a focus on:
Developing additional new product capabilities and tools; and
Expanding its operating footprint in major markets, building on a global team that has doubled in size to over 700 employees in the past 18 months.
"Medallia is helping the world's top brands increase loyalty, grow their businesses, and deliver unforgettable customer experiences," said Douglas Leone, Medallia board member and Sequoia Capital partner. "Their rocketing growth will only continue as more companies recognize that in today's age, effectively managing the customer experience is no longer a choice. It's a win-or-lose necessity."
This funding builds on a number of milestones during recent months. Medallia has:
Allied with leading global system integrators and customer experience experts, including J.D. Power and Appirio, that have launched implementation and program management practices for the Medallia platform;
Welcomed companies, including SAP, Mazda and DIRECTV, to its client base, joining such customer experience leaders as Four Seasons and Zurich Insurance Group;
Added seasoned industry veterans to its board of directors, including LinkedIn and Palo Alto Networks board member and audit committee chair Stan Meresman, and former Netflix CMO Leslie Kilgore; and
Appointed proven financial leader and former Polycom CFO Mike Kourey as CFO.
About Medallia
Medallia® is the Customer Experience Management company that is trusted by hundreds of the world's leading brands. Medallia's Software-as-a-Service application enables companies to capture customer feedback everywhere the customer is (including web, social, mobile, and contact center channels), understand it in real time, and deliver insights and action everywhere—from the C-suite to the frontline—to improve their performance. Founded in 2001, Medallia has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Sydney and Buenos Aires. Learn more at www.Medallia.com.
来源：prnewswire
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130314/SF76927LOGO
硅谷之外的思考：科技公司如何改变世界
编者按 ： 克莱尔·霍夫（Claire Hough）是 在线学习平台 Udemy 的工程副总裁。
本周早些时候，众多科技巨头做了一件意义非凡的事情——他们携起手来共建一个更加美好的社会。
作为奥巴马总统提出的 ConnectHome 倡议 的合作伙伴，一批互联网服务提供商、创业公司和科技行业非营利组织，会携手将宽带接入服务扩大至 27.5 万生活在公共住房的低收入群体。随着科技已经成为我们日常生活的一部分，ConnectHome 项目应该会时刻提醒科技公司，他们有责任让尽可能多的人用到他们的产品。
按需经济的诞生重新定义了我们之前所认为的便捷性。实际上，只要你轻轻点击一下手机屏幕，你所能想到的一切东西都可以被召唤到你的身边——无论是快餐、生活用品，还是工作助理、交通工具。虽然这些服务已经改善了我们许多人的生活，但只有那些有钱负担或有机会访问到它们的人，才能从中获利。
《纽约时报》科技专栏作家法尔哈德·曼约奥（Farhad Manjoo）会经常谈到一个主题，即最近这次科技繁荣始终专注于改善少数人的生活质量，比如，他在 最新的专栏文章 中就讨论了点对点解决方案的价值。曼约奥对科技企业扩大产品生产规模的使命——为了让它们更便宜、被更多人所使用——始终抱着质疑态度，这种态度突出了硅谷在道德层面面临的两难局面。
虽然无数的创业公司因为迎合了硅谷少数富有阶层的需求而得到了快速发展，但科技公司的机遇仍然在于他们如何回报之前成就了他们的社区。
即便是今天，美国仍有数千万人无法上网，而全世界更是有一半的人不能上网——知道这一事实，肯定让人觉得很沮丧。我们的政府 已经认识到 ，宽带接入对我们的生活，就同水和电一样的重要。
网络连接可以给那些拥有这种能力的人带来极大的便利，这一点不言而喻；因此，拥有网络连接的人和没有网络连接的人，他们之间存在很大的差异。Facebook 首席执行官马克·扎克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）试图通过 Internet.org 将廉价的互联网服务推向全世界的人，这也是最引人注目的项目之一。
最好的解决办法其实就是确保一代人拥有公平的机会——这一代人越来越多地被打上了“日渐消失的中产阶级”的烙印。作为网络服务和第三方平台的受益者，科技企业应该携手努力，对各自的社区带来积极的影响，或是对整个世界带来更大的影响。
ConnectHome 项目也许就是“科技为社会谋福利”的最佳例证。这是一个公私合作项目，谷歌和 Cox 之类的互联网服务提供商均有参与，旨在将高速宽带接入提供给美国 27.5 万低收入群体。奥巴马总统在周三宣布推出了这个项目，因为他已经认识到那些无法访问互联网的人，在教育和就业方面所面临的诸多劣势。对于部分美国人来说，今后每个月的上网费用将只有 10 美元。ConnectHome 就是创业公司如何回馈社会的一个模板。
尽管如此，回馈社会并不限于政府项目。肖恩·帕克（Sean Parker）为他的同名基金会 自筹资金 6 亿美元 ，用以证明科技企业领导人可以给这个世界带来社会效益。由于对 Facebook 的投资，帕克已成为硅谷最富有、影响力最大的科技人士之一。帕克基金会不仅致力于解决像公民参与这样发生在我们身边的小事，而且还积极参与全球公共卫生和生物科技等重要课题。他希望充分利用自己在过去多年来形成的创业心态，对社会大规模变革带来积极贡献。
SurveyMonkey 之类的公司也在开发可以回报全社会的产品。SurveyMonkey Contribute 允许用户进行调查，然后获得慈善捐款以参与他们选择的慈善事业。到目前为止，SurveyMonkey Contribute 已经向无国界医生组织（Doctors Without Borders）、美国红十字会、美国人道协会（The Humane Society Of The United States）等慈善机构捐款 500 万美元。SurveyMonkey 的平台正系统性地向给予他们最大帮助的人以回报。
毫无疑问，我们正生活在一个创业的环境下——创业公司不应以服务于有活力的市场而感到羞耻。但这种经济上的刺激并不能免除他们让产品尽可能覆盖更多受众的责任。这些价值根本不必进行大范围宣扬，而是应该成为硅谷一种根深蒂固的文化。
我们在享受科技成果上具有优先权，但最终也迫使我们承担起更大的责任，而这种责任也伴随着我们每天享受到的优先权。
Think Outside The Valley: How Tech Companies Can Change The World
Claire Hough is a VP of Engineering at Udemy, an online learning marketplace.
A handful of tech heavyweights did something remarkable earlier this week — they came together for the betterment of society.
As partners on President Obama’s ConnectHome initiative, internet service providers, startups, and tech nonprofits will expand broadband access to around 275,000 people living in public housing. As technology has become a part of our daily lives, ConnectHome should remind tech companies of their responsibility to make their products as accessible as possible.
The birth of the on-demand economy has redefined convenience as we know it. Virtually anything you can think of — dinner, groceries, work assistance, transportation — can be summoned to you in a single tap. While these services have improved the lives of many, only those who can afford or access them reap the benefits.
That the most recent tech boom has focused on improving the lives of the few is not lost on The New York Times’ Farhad Manjoo, who discussed the value of point-to-point solutions in a recent column. Manjoo’s skeptical take on tech companies’ mission to scale their products — making them cheaper and more accessible — underscores the moral dilemma Silicon Valley faces.
Although an endless number of startups has been enriched by catering to the Valley’s well-heeled residents, an opportunity remains for tech companies to give back to the community that made them.
Even today, it is disheartening to know tens of millions of people in the United States do not have access to the Internet, let alone over 50% of the world. Our government has recognized that broadband access is as vital to our lives as water or electricity.
It goes without saying online connectivity greatly advantages those who have it; hence, a wide disparity exists between those who have it and those who don’t. Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts to bring affordable basic Internet service to the world through Internet.org have been one of the most notable initiatives.
It’s the best way to ensure equal opportunity for a generation increasingly defined by a disappearing middle class. As beneficiaries of online services and marketplaces, tech companies should work toward making a positive impact in their own communities or a greater impact in the world.
No program better exemplifies the “tech for good” mantra than , a public-private partnership with internet service providers like Cox and Google that will expand high-speed broadband access to 275,000 low-income Americans. President Obama announced the initiative on Wednesday, recognizing the disadvantages those without Internet access face when it comes to education and employment. For some Americans, broadband access will cost just $10 a month. ConnectHome is a model for how startups can give back.
Giving back isn’t limited to government initiatives, though. Sean Parker has self-funded his eponymous foundation to the tune of $600 million demonstrating the social good tech leaders can bring to the world. Parker, whose contributions to Facebook make him among Silicon Valley’s wealthiest, established the. Parker foundation to tackle not only nearby issues like civic engagement, but moonshots like global public health and biotech as well. He hopes to leverage the startup mentality he’s gained over the years to affect large-scale change.
Companies like SurveyMonkey are creating products designed to give back, too. SurveyMonkey Contribute lets users take surveys and be rewarded with a charitable donation to a participating charity of their choice. So far SurveyMonkey Contribute has raised over $5 million in donations to charities like Doctors Without Borders, American Red Cross, and The Humane Society Of The United States. SurveyMonkey’s platform is now organically giving back to those who need help the most.s
There’s no doubt that we’re living in an entrepreneurial environment — startups shouldn’t be shamed for serving viable markets. But that economic imperative doesn’t absolve them of their responsibility to make their products as accessible as possible. These values shouldn’t have to be preached; they should be engrained in Silicon Valley culture.
We are privileged to benefit from technology, and ultimately that obliges us to take on greater responsibility that comes with the privileges we enjoy every day.
来源：techcrunch
硅谷
2015年07月21日
硅谷
澳大利亚线上顾问平台Expert360获得310万A轮融资
导语：这笔融资将会用于扩大其顾问支持团队，并且增加更多企业级服务。HRTechChina也报道过专注中小企业咨询的 “收费版知乎”的“答赏”，“答赏”是通过垂直领域的专业问答涉足在线咨询，为企业经营者提供解决问题方案的，致力打造最有价值的商业分享和人脉社区。国外方面，连接企业家和高级顾问和行业专家的Clarity也与之相类似。
澳大利亚Expert360是一家提供高端顾问服务的平台，近日该公司获得了410万澳元（约合310万美元）的A轮融资，领投方是Frontier Ventures风投公司。
这笔融资将会用于扩大其顾问支持团队，在研究、数据、以及其他知识产品方面提供服务。此外据Expert360联合创始人兼首席运营官Emily Yue透露，该融资还会用于Expert360增加更多企业级服务，一些从大企业退休的高管将会加入到Expert360的顾问人才团队，客户还能获得专属项目经理的支持。
据了解，目前全球顾问行业的市值已经达到了3500亿美元。
参与本轮投资的还有澳大利亚本土科技基金Rampersand，一批机构投资人，现有股东，和高净值投资人（比如Macquarie银行前任总经理Allan Moss AO）。本轮投资之后，Frontier Ventures风投创始人Dmitry Alimov将会加入到Expert360公司董事会。
Alimov说道，“线上顾问服务具有颠覆全球顾问行业的潜力，而Expert360则是此领域里的佼佼者。他们突破了传统的咨询顾问方法，利用科技的力量，全球互联，以及个体性专长，为客户提供优秀的解决方案。Expert360团队给我们留下了深刻印象，他们的执行力非常快，产品质量和发展轨迹也很不错。我们非常高兴能够重新回到线上顾问服务行业。我们的目标，就是帮助该公司的联合创始人和他们的团队，把这项事业推向新的。”
Expert360公司成立于2013年，他们在全世界拥有超过4500名专业顾问，企业客户可以轻松地与旗下顾问联系，获得帮助。根据该公司官方信息，目前Expert360总部设在悉尼，在澳大利亚和东南亚拥有15名全职员工。
Bridget Loudon是该公司首席执行官兼联合创始人，她说道，“我们的公司愿景非常简单，就是希望利用科技的力量，帮助客户或是客户的项目得到优质的顾问服务，让他们能够随时随地的获得顾问价值。我们非常高兴，因为有一批非常棒的投资人帮助我们将Expert360推上一个新台阶。我们的领投方，Frontier Ventures风投，在全球市场有着丰富且有价值的专业经验，我们非常期待与他们合作。”
Frontier Ventures是一家专门在全球新兴市场从事互联网领域投资的风投公司，他们主要关注东南亚和俄罗斯的消费互联网服务。该风投的投资组合包括亚洲餐厅预订平台Chope，俄罗斯线上视频公司ivi.ru，以及俄罗斯和独联体的线上企业服务平台profi.ru。本次对Expert360的投资，是他们第十笔线上服务平台类投资，也是他们在亚太地区的第二笔投资。
Frontier Ventures leads US$3.1M Series A round in Australia’s Expert360
Frontier Ventures has led an oversubscribed AU$4.1 million (US$3.1 million) round raised by Australian consulting marketplace Expert360.
The newly raised capital will see the company expand its support for consultants through access to research, data and other IP. The money will also be used to expand its enterprise services offerings so that executives in larger organisations can get instant access to a pool of consulting talent and support from a dedicated project manager, shared Expert360’s Co-founder and COO Emily Yue.
The global consulting industry is worth US$350 billion.
Co-investors in the round include Australian technology fund rampersand, institutional investors, existing shareholders, and high net worth individuals such as former Macquarie Bank MD Allan Moss AO.
Frontier Ventures Founder Dmitry Alimov will join the company’s Board of Directors.
Alimov said, “Expert360 is a leading marketplace for online consulting services with potential to disrupt a massive global industry. It breaks apart traditional consulting methodology by using the power of technology, global connectivity and individual expertise to provide superior client solutions. We are very impressed by the company’s team, its speed of execution, product quality and outstanding growth trajectory. We know online service marketplaces and we’re excited to back this one. Our goal is to help Bridget, Emily (Co-founders) and the Expert360 team take this business to a new level.”
Launched in 2013, Expert360 connects consultants with companies and has more than 4,500 independent consultants available from around the world. From an initial small team in Sydney, it now has 15 full-time employees across Australia and Southeast Asia, said an official release.
Bridget Loudon, CEO and Co-founder of Expert360 said, “Our vision is simple: it’s about harnessing technology to connect clients and their projects with great consultants, anywhere, anytime and in a way that delivers outstanding value for both parties. We’re extremely excited to have a great set of investors on board to help us take Expert360 to the next level. Our lead investor, Frontier Ventures, brings a wealth of global marketplace expertise that will be very valuable. We look forward to working with them.”
Frontier Ventures is a venture fund focussed on Internet investments in global emerging markets, with a main focus on consumer Internet services in Southeast Asia and Russia. Its portfolio includes Asia’s restaurant reservation platform Chope, Russia’s online video company ivi.ru and online marketplace business in Russia and CIS profi.ru. This investment marks the 10th online marketplace in Frontier Ventures’ portfolio and the fund’s second deal in the APAC region.
来自：e27
HackerRank近日获得七百五十万美元投资[caption id="attachment_8176" align="alignnone" width="720"] Tech Hiring Matchmaker HackerRank Draws $7.5M From Global HR Firm[/caption]
HackerRank近日获得七百五十万美元投资
程序员招聘竞赛平台HackerRank近日宣布从日本人力资源巨头Recruit获得七百五十万美元投资。HackerRank让应聘者在线完成真实项目的编程挑战，从而来为企业筛选出能力优秀、符合招聘需求的技术人员。HackerRank的联合创始人兼首席执行官Vivek Ravisankar表示, Recruit成为股东将有助于HackerRank扩展在亚太地区的业务。Recruit可以成为HackerRank在亚太地区企业和应聘者的入口。
去年11月有报道国内有一家Hackerrank 的平台：
HackerRank模式的中国尝试者：oxcoder让程序猿在线完成项目挑战来帮企业做招聘笔试
http://www.hrtechchina.com/archives/4383
原文来自：
http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2015/07/14/tech-hiring-matchmaker-hackerrank-draws-7-5m-from-global-hr-firm/
HackerRank, which hosts online competitions that help programmers flaunt their skills to potential employers like Amazon and Quora, said today it has landed a $7.5 million investment from the funding arm of Japan-based human resources giant Recruit.
The new alliance with Recruit will help Palo Alto, CA-based HackerRank scale up its business in the Asia Pacific region, CEO and co-founder Vivek Ravisankar says. Recruit could be HackerRank’s gateway to both employers and job candidates in that part of the world, he says.
HackerRank counts as customers more than a thousand employers such as Walmart, Bloomberg, and Morgan Stanley, which pay for access to programmers who score high in HackerRank’s online coding challenges, Ravisankar says. All have made at least one hire facilitated by HackerRank, he says. Recruit itself is not a client—yet.
“I think we’ll get them soon,” Ravisankar (pictured above) says.
Ravisankar and his co-founder Harishankaran Karunanidhi, who started the company in 2012, want to change the way tech workers and employers find each other. Under traditional staff search processes, tech applicants send their resumes into the “black hole” of company hiring departments, while recruiters spend hours sifting through resumes to find good prospects, Ravisankar says. Employers may then spend weeks doing interviews to try to gauge the applicants’ actual technical abilities.
HackerRank’s competitions are designed to speed up that process, and open opportunities to people regardless of their gender, race, location, or the prestige of their university degrees. Hackers can log in to the site to improve their skills, compete in challenges, and gain rankings across a range of specific areas such as algorithms, machine learning, and streamlining code. For employers looking to hire skilled new tech team members, it’s kind of like consulting a Moneyball analysis of programmers, Ravisankar says.
“They’re getting to talk to high-quality candidates from the start,” Ravisankar says. HackerRank has screened more than a million developers over the last couple of years, he says. More than 150,000 active programmers used the site over the past month.
In addition to the chance of getting a job offer, hackers can win cash prizes or tech toys such as GoPro cameras, drones, and laptops by performing well in the contests.
HackerRank has built a reputation as “the go-to community for tech talent analysis,” HR Technology Fund president Chihiro Ueda said in a statement about the Recruit fund’s investment in the startup. “As the demand for technology talent continues to outstrip supply, HackerRank offers an efficient way for HR professionals to evaluate talent beyond traditional means.’’
The Recruit fund’s investment brings HackerRank’s total fundraising to $17 million. The company’s earlier financial backing came from Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, and Battery Ventures, among other investors. Ravisankar says HackerRank’s competitors include companies such as San Francisco-based recruiting software company Gild. Gild compiles profiles of working professionals from dozens of sites, and helps employers find those who best match their needs.
HackerRank’s clients include small to medium-sized businesses as well as larger enterprises, Ravisankar says. The company charges fees of $5,000 to $10,000 a year, per user, depending on the extra features clients want to add. These include CodePair, a skills-testing tool employers can use during the interview process. HackerRank also enables companies to set up their own hacker challenges on their websites’ career landing pages.
Ravisankar says he expects HackerRank’s revenues to reach “the double-digits of millions of dollars” in the next three to four months. The company may double its current staff size of 120 within a year, he says.
HackerRank is one of a growing number of online forums where programmers can demonstrate their computer science skills, outside the academic credentialing system of degrees from accredited colleges and universities. For example, Utah-based online learning company Pluralsight offers skills tests through its divisionSmarterer, and hackers can showcase their work on tech projects throughGitHub.
HackerRank is also making inroads into the academic system. Professors at 74 colleges are using HackerRank’s challenge infrastructure at no charge to set programming tasks for their students, rather than posting the assignments via e-mail, downloading each student’s work, and computing the rankings themselves. Once the classroom service becomes better known, HackerRank will market it as a product to colleges and universities, Ravisankar says.
But HackerRank will remain an avenue of opportunity for people who have never earned a degree, says Ravisankar. The company’s core mission is to create a meritocratic route to tech employment, he says. Fees will never be charged to hackers entering one of the company’s coding contests, he says.
“They will never pay,” Ravisankar says. “It will always be free forever.”
微软新推出套件集合大数据和分析工具
微软在奥兰多举行的全球合作伙伴大会上宣布了 Cortana Analytics Suite。 它将该公司的机器学习、大数据和分析产品都集合到一个完全统一的套件中
微软寄希望于该套件能够为企业用户提供一站式的大数据和分析解决方案。
微软负责 Azure 机器学习的企业副总裁约瑟夫·斯瑞西（Joseph Sirosh）告诉 TechCrunch，“我们的目的是将这些分散的部分集成在一起，这样用户就可以有一个完整的平台来搭建智能解决方案。”
至于 Cortana，这是微软在 Windows 10 中推出的语音驱动的个人助理工具，只是解决方案的一小部分，不过斯瑞西表示，微软以 Cortana 来命名这个套件是因为它象征着微软公司希望通过这个套件提供的符合实际的智能。
这个套件汇聚了微软的云机器学习产品 Azure ML、数据可视化工具 PowerBI 和上周宣布的企业数据共享和数据存储访问服务 Azure Data Catalog 等等。微软希望利用脸部和语音识别等一系列技术来生成推荐引擎和生产预测等一系列的解决方案。
一切围绕集成
微软希望通过提供一个集成的解决方案，第三方和系统集成商可以基于这一套件打造打包式解决方案，让一些不同的产品能够很好地在一起发挥功效，这样的产品将会吸引消费者。这正是这一集成所在做的事, 这样就会减少让这些类型的工具合作的复杂性——至少理论上是这样。
“这一套件提供的价值在于卓越的互操作性，已完成的解决方案，既有配方又有指导书，”斯瑞西解释道。
微软举了一个例子，它谈到 Dartmouth-Hitchcock 医疗中心的一个医疗保健协调项目。被称为 ImagineCare 的解决方案正是建立在 Cortana Analytics Suite 和 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 工具的基础之上。
这个解决方案希望通过向患者提供家庭监护来测量心率、血压、睡眠模式、体重等等，并且在 Azure 云中共享这些信息，这样医护人员可以协调更好的医疗服务，还可以防止像心脏病发作这类重大医疗事件的发生。
护士可以在医疗数据仪表盘上监控一组病人的数据，在病人的数据发生整体变化时，协调更好的治疗和更好地应对，这些变化如果不及时治疗可能会带来更大的问题。斯瑞西谨慎地指出，这更多的是一种未来的理想状态，但微软希望通过将这些分散的功能用一种协作的方式集合在一起，为这些复杂项目的发展提供一个平台。
套件情结
微软用在这个套件上的是可靠实用的打包技术，那些我们多年来在微软、IBM 和 Adobe 这样的大公司身上所看到的技术，他们用这一技术把一组有些关联的产品放在一起，鼓励顾客去购买所有的产品而不是其中的一两个。
微软在 Office 套件中就万年不变地使用类似的集成手段。Adobe 在 Creative Suite 上也是如出一辙。两家公司都为套件中的产品提供了更方便的操作。
Cortana Analytics Suite 会在今年秋季晚些时候上市。斯瑞西没有说价格的事情，不过据他说，如果你想买这个套件，收费模式会更加简单，肯定比你单独购买这些产品要划算得多。
这看上去是一个挺不错的营销做法，但在现实中，根据过去几年的经验显示，消费者想要产品类别中最好的那一款，而且他们更愿意组合他们想要的或是已有的产品。
各家企业已经不想再受制于一家供应商。他们要让他们的供应商，特别是在云端，能够让各种不同的产品，不管生产商是哪一家，都能够更容易地一道工作。
这一套件属于逆势而上。时间会告诉我们消费者是否买账。
Microsoft Hopes To Unify Big Data And Analytics In Newly Announced Suite
At its Worldwide Partner Conference in Orlando，Microsoft announced the Cortana Analytics Suite. It takes the company’s machine learning, big data and analytics products and packages them together in one huge, monolithic suite.
Microsoft has put together the suite with the hope of providing a one-stop, big data and analytics solution for enterprise customers.
“Our goal was to bring integration of these pieces so customers have a comprehensive platform to build intelligent solutions,” Joseph Sirosh, corporate vice president at Microsoft, who is in charge of Azure ML told TechCrunch.
As for Cortana, which is the Microsoft voice-driven personal assistant tool in Windows 10, it’s a small part of the solution, but Sirosh says Microsoft named the suite after it because it symbolizes the contextualized intelligence that the company hopes to deliver across the entire suite.
It includes pieces like Azure ML, the company’s cloud machine learning product, PowerBI, its data visualization tool and Azure Data Catalog，a service announced just last week designed for sharing and surfacing data stores inside a company, among others. It hopes to take advantage of range of technologies such as face and speech recognition to generate a series of solutions like recommendation engines and churn forecasting.
It’s All About Integration
Microsoft expects that by providing an integrated solution, third parties and systems integrators will build packaged solutions based on the suite, and that customers will be attracted by a product with pieces designed to play nicely together. It is building in integration, thereby reducing the complexity of making these types of tools work together — at least that’s the theory.
“Where the suite provides value is the great interoperability, finished solutions, recipes and cookbooks,” Sirosh explained.
As an example, Microsoft talked about a coordinated medical care project at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The program, called ImagineCare, is built on top of the Cortana Analytics Suite and the Microsoft Dynamics CRM tool.
The hope is that by providing patients with home monitoring to measure things like heart rate, blood pressure, sleep patterns, weight gain and so forth, and sharing this information in the Azure cloud, they can coordinate better care and perhaps prevent a major medical event like a heart attack.
Nurses could monitor the data from a group of patients in a medical data dashboard and coordinate better care and responses to changes in the overall patient profile that could signal larger issues if left untreated. Sirosh was careful to point out that this is more of a future ideal, but Microsoft is hoping that by putting these pieces together in a coordinated fashion, it will provide a platform for these types of sophisticated projects moving forward.
Suite Emotion
What Microsoft is doing with this suite is the tried and true packaging technique, we have seen from big companies like Microsoft, IBM and Adobe for years, taking a group of somewhat-related products and putting them together to encourage customers to buy all of the products instead of just a couple.
Microsoft made billions for years delivering a similar type of integration with the Office suite. Adobe did the same thing with Creative Suite, both companies delivering ways to work more easily across the products that make up the suite.
Cortana Analytics Suite will be available later this Fall. Sirosh wouldn’t discuss pricing, but if you buy one suite, you’ll get a simpler billing model and more savings than you would get buying the individual pieces, he said.
It seems like a sound marketing practice, but in reality customers have indicated over the last several years, they want the best of breed across product categories and prefer to string together the products they want or already own.
Companies no longer want to be locked into a single vendor. They want their vendors, especially in the cloud to make it easier to make the various pieces work together, regardless of the manufacturer.
This suite bucks that trend. Time will tell if customers will bite.
来源：Techcrunch
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