According to recent reports from Business Insider and The Wall Street Journal, General Electric is looking to undo much of the work done by former CEO Jeff Immelt and sell off most of its digital business unit. Thissale could include the Predix software platform that focuses on industrial connectivity and data integration. Many considered this software to be the backbone of GE’s IoT/Industry 4.0 market strategy.
Among Immelt’s numerous changes at GE, it’s estimated that he poured nearly $4 billion into creating digital technologies and platforms that were first put to use in GE plants, and then developed as new product offerings. Predix was at the center of all of these developments, as it provided the functional platform for connecting local and remote equipment in improving the sharing and integration of industrial performance data. The company predicted annual software sales of $15 billion by 2020.
It appears that new CEO John Flannery doesn’t share Immelt’s optimism regarding the digital business. Many speculate that an influx of competition from niche software providers, IoT start-ups, and tech giants like Microsoft and Google has Flannery focused more on growing its three core business units in power, aviation, and healthcare.
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