2020年经济学人 平安--变形计(2)

Three things distinguish Ping An's operating model from that of a standard insurer: its vast platform of services; its approach towards its hundreds of millions of users and customers; and, underpinning¹ it all, its technological² prowess. Take its array of subsidiaries first. The firm sells life and health insurance, which in the first three quarters of the year accounted for 67% of net profit. It provides health care through Good Doctor, its digital-medicine group. Customers can park their cash with Ping An's bank or invest it through Lufax, its wealth-advisory arm (which listed in New York on October 30th). They can buy a car or sign up for education services, and then finance the payments through Ping An's consumer-credit unit.

平安的运营模式与标准保险公司有三点区别：其庞大的服务平台；对待数亿用户和客户的方式；还有支撑这一切的——它的技术实力。先看它的一系列子公司。该公司销售人寿和健康保险，在今年前三季度占净利润的67%。它通过旗下的数字医药集团“好医生”提供医疗保健服务。客户可以将现金存入平安银行，也可以通过平安旗下的财富咨询机构“陆金所”(10月30日在纽约上市)进行投资。他们可以买车或报名参加教育服务，然后通过平安的消费信贷部门支付费用。

The sheer breadth of services on offer allows Ping An to treat customers more as a social-media firm would, rather than an insurer—the second distinctive³ feature of its business model. Unusually for a financial institution, Ping An considers the majority of people buying its products to be users instead of customers. They may buy a health service from Good Doctor or a car from Autohome, its car-purchasing app, contributing to the company's data pool, yet remaining outside its core customer base. "You don't have to jump through hoops⁴. All you need to do is download our app," says Jessica Tan, one of the group's three co-chief executives. Only when they hold a financial product at one of the core units of the company, such as an insurance policy, do users become customers.

平安所提供的服务的广度使平安能够像社交媒体公司、而不是像保险公司一样一样对待客户，这是其商业模式的第二个显著特征。与金融机构不同的是，平安认为购买其产品的大多数人都是用户而不是客户。他们可能会从“好医生”那里购买一项医疗服务或者从其汽车购买应用程序Autohome那里购买一辆汽车为公司的数据池做出贡献，但仍处于其核心客户基础之外。“你不需要经历重重困难，你所需要做的就是下载我们的应用，”该集团三位联席首席执行官之一杰西卡·谭表示。只有当他们在公司的一个核心部门持有金融产品(比如保险单)时，用户才会成为客户。

By allowing hundreds of millions of people to dip their toes in its product offering, Ping An has created a pool of users that can be targeted for sales of more sophisticated products. More than 578m people used its platform in the first nine months of the year. Some 214m were customers who had contractual agreements with the company. The rest were considered users. In the first half of the year, about 35% of its 18m new customers were sourced from its users. As the company has won over more users, that percentage has risen steadily⁵ in recent years.

通过允许数亿人参与其产品供应，平安创建了一个用户群体，这些用户可以面向更复杂的产品销售。今年前9个月，超过5.78亿人使用了其平台，约2.14亿用户与该公司签订了合同协议，其余的人则被认为是使用者。今年上半年，其1800万新客户中有35%来自其用户。近年来随着该公司用户量的增加，这一比例一直在稳步上升。

1 underpinning   

n.基础材料；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础；（人的）腿v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的现在分词 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• Underpinning this success has been an exemplary record of innovation. 具有典范性的创新确保了这次成功。 来自辞典例句
• But underpinning Mr Armstrong's technology changes is a human touch. 但阿姆斯特朗技术变革的支柱是人情味。 来自互联网

2 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

3 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

4 hoops   

n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓

参考例句：

• a barrel bound with iron hoops 用铁箍箍紧的桶
• Hoops in Paris were wider this season and skirts were shorter. 在巴黎，这个季节的裙圈比较宽大，裙裾却短一些。 来自飘（部分）

5 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。