Work For Apple, Microsoft, Or Google - Join this School

Work For Apple, Microsoft, Or Google - Join this School

   May 28, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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For all the talk of "cognitive ability" and "behavioral interviewing," tech firms like Microsoft and Google have a similar hiring pattern to just about any other business: proximity. 

That's according to Wired, which found that  recruitment is typically tied to how close a college campus is to the corporate campus, with a few notable exceptions. 

To find this out, Wired did a little poking around LinkedIn to find the top five "donating" schools for seven tech firms. The magazine's mission was "to see if non-Stanford grads have a chance at Silicon Valley firms (they do) and whether Ivy Leagues dominate (they don’t)." 

Take Microsoft, for instance. Bill Gates's empire is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Correspondingly, lots of recruits come from that state. Judging by Wired's infographic, Microsoft employs approximately: 

• 5,000 University of Washington grads
• 1,000 Washington State grads
• 800 Western Washington University grads
• Then there's Apple. The house that Steve Jobs built has this employee breakdown: 
• 900 University of California, Berkeley, grads
• 800 San Jose State grads
• 300 University of Texas, Austin, grads
• Lastly, let's look at Google. The prestigious search giant has loads of California connections, with some East Coast schools thrown in. The approximate numbers are: 
• 2,500 Stanford grads
• 2,000 University of California, Berkeley, grads
• 800 Carnegie Mellon grads
• 800 University of California, Los Angeles, grads

Why would big, global companies hire from their nearby colleges? While we don't have anyone in HR at Microsoft, we do know hiring trends. Namely, people hire people they know, and it's easiest to know the folks who are nearby. 

And if you didn't go to Stanford, fret not; you can still end up at Google. Just spend a stint at Microsoft: Wired reports it's the top feeder company to Google. 

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Build risk-assessment confidence through D&B’s Material Change predictive analytics

Build risk-assessment confidence through D&B’s Material Change predictive analytics

   May 15, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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Your lumber business just scored a large contract to supply materials to an expanding hardware store chain in California. You’re looking at ramping up production and hiring a score of new employees. But how can you be sure that your new star customer will remain on its current growth trajectory? Businesses are faced with similar decision-making challenges on a daily basis. Without the proper data tools, it is difficult to see beyond the immediate outlook and predict when a material-change event will occur. Fortunately, new analytical tools are arriving on the market to help companies more accurately assess the future risk or potential of a business partner.

For instance, D&B’s patent-pending new analytic capability, “Material Change,” enables customers to better identify whether a business is poised for expansion or headed for decline, reaching out 12 months, 18 months, and on into the future. This new tool is the most recent in D&B’s family of predictive analytic tools. The company has traditionally provided market-leading business scores, credit scores, and ratings. The predictive analytic tools build on the traditional scores and can help transform data into intelligence that also helps manage risk and identifies new opportunities. Predictive tools already available from D&B include Viability Rating, Total Loss Predictor, and Delinquency Predictor.

Material Change PredictorsMaterial Change builds on D&B’s existing predictive analytic capabilities by adding anticipatory signals, such as a company’s payment behavior and financial obligations, to provide a long-range view of the firm’s risk profile. Where D&B’s existing tools allow businesses to move forward on deals with prospects, suppliers, and customers, Material Change gives customers the confidence to make future plans based on the predicted stability of those commercial relationships.

Advanced analytics like Material Change are designed to help customers anticipate a partner’s behavior and insulate against surprise developments. For the lumber business looking at expansion, the insecurity of relying on a large contract relationship is mitigated and confident business decisions can be made. Taking on 20 new employees and adding a new production line won’t cause unnecessary worry that those operations may have to be shuttered a year or two down the line. Anne Law

Predictive analytic tools on the market are also helping companies target key prospects, identify most valuable customers, and leverage successful products and marketing campaigns, according to EMC Corp.’s Bill Schmarzo. Modeling and forecasting tools allow businesses to answer futuristic questions such as: “Who will be my top customer next year?” and “What new product will be the top seller?”

Predictive analytics allow businesses to recognize patterns and correlations between customer behavior, store traffic, promotional activities, geography, and other elements that drive risk or profitability. Examples of successful data crunching initiatives range from Netflix’s predicted success of blockbuster TV show House of Cards to the Carilion Clinic’s identification of critical-risk heart patients.

–D&B is currently testing the Material Change predictors to determine how the capability can best be ingested and used by customers.–

anticipatory analytics, D&B Material Change, Dun & Bradstreet, material changes, predictive analytics, risk management, Biz Trends, Buzzworthy, Customer Intelligence  

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Microsoft challenging US Government - Access Data Stored Abroad

Microsoft challenging US Government - Access Data Stored Abroad

   April 28, 2014       prabhakardalvi

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crosoft lost its first challenge to the authority of the United States government’s use of search warrants to demand data stored abroad.

Microsoft challenged a U.S. search warrant for emails stored in Ireland. The cloud does have a physical footprint, after all. The company was not surprised that it lost the initial test, noting in a blog post that “the Magistrate Judge, who originally issued the warrant in question, disagreed with our view and rejected our challenge.”

The company states that it “knew the path would need to start with a magistrate judge, and that we’d eventually have the opportunity to bring the issue to a U.S. district court judge and probably to a federal court of appeals.” So, today’s setback for Microsoft is not really a dispiriting moment. Think of it more as a first step.

There is a process called the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty that countries can use to request data and the like from one another. So, even if Microsoft does in fact win in the end, it won’t close the system. Alex Wilhelm

American search warrants aren't worth a thing in China, as Chinese search warrants aren't of much use in California. Microsoft’s point that the location of data demanded matters is simple, and reasonable.

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