Momentum at GE Digital

It’s been almost a year now that our team at GE Digital moved 97% of our workforce to remote work. This last year has been a whirlwind. Amid a global pandemic, GE Digital has been hyper-focused on helping our 21,000 customers across 100 countries worldwide. We are supporting our customers with our software and services to accelerate global transitions that impact our mission-critical industries: Electric Utilities must balance and optimize renewable energy while reducing costs and carbon in an increasingly complex ecosystem; Power Generation and Oil & Gas look to natural gas and other lower-carbon solutions; the Aviation industry prepares to return to flight; and Manufacturing adjusts to post-pandemic demand. While most of our time has been and continues to be spent heads down and moving forward, I have been reflecting on what it took for our ~4,000 employees to keep focused and drive progress amidst the upheaval of the last year. If I had to choose one word to describe where this team is, it would be momentum.

As I write this, GE Digital is a leading, billion-dollar industrial software business today. Through a combination of industrial domain knowledge, pre-package content, industrial data and proven analytics models, we are delivering breakthrough business outcomes for our customers at the point of impact where and when they need them most. The work we are doing with them—matters.

Take Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), for example. On the morning of April 5, 2020, the people of India turned off their lights and illuminated candles and flashlights in a show of strength and unity in the fight against #COVID-19. With just 60 hours’ notice and a team that was adjusting to remote work, we successfully worked alongside the national utility to prepare its power grid to withstand the unprecedented 31-gigawatt reduction in load and recovery.

Our manufacturing software team works closely with consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G). By deploying our Proficy Plant Applications at an enterprise scale, P&G was able to rapidly respond to changing demand brought on by the pandemic and make vital supply chain shifts.

At its Integrated Smart Operations Center, New York Power Authority (NPYA) also uses online remote monitoring of power plants, sub-stations and power lines to increase plant efficiency and productivity, reduce unplanned downtime, lower maintenance costs, and minimize operational risks. At the onset of the pandemic, and in less than 24 hours, they enabled 2,400 NYPA and New York State Canal team members to work safely from their homes. NYPA's suite of asset performance management software enabled critical infrastructure to remain operational while minimizing risk to the health of its workforce, with no significant operational events during this period.

But these stories are more than just anecdotes. They showcase a cornerstone of our mission: putting our customers first. Our resolve to live the #GEDigitalWay was the reason we were awarded Frost & Sullivan’s 2020 Global IIoT-Based Asset Management and Optimization Customer Value Leadership Award.

Our customer-centric approach is not just central to who we are, it’s also how we spark continuous innovation. Last year, we expanded our already-vast product portfolio with more than 25 new product launches and updates across our focus-industries—and we were recognized for that too:

• Verdantix Green Quadrant for Asset Performance Management Solutions for 2020
• VDC Research’s 2020 Industrial Automation & Sensors Industrial IoT Vendor Awards
• Navigant Research names GE Digital #1 as the leader in their ADMS Leaderboard report
• Named a leader in IDC APM MarketScape reports for Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Utilities, and Mining.

This year, we are continuing the innovation that our customers have come to rely on and have introduced Remote Operations for the Oil & Gas and Chemical Industries, which offers operations continuity, worker safety, and secure remote equipment control. And just last week, in partnership with Teradata, we launched Flight Data Link, which helps accelerate airlines’ digital transformation - driving reduced expenses and greater insights into operations by integrating customer, maintenance, and supply chain data. These accomplishments would not have been possible without the people of GE Digital who are focused on building a world that works – for everyone.

2020 was a big year for GE Digital, and I am very proud of the progress we made as a team. It was not an easy year – the global pandemic was a challenge for most, both professionally and personally. But through these many challenges we worked together as a team to deliver on our commitments to customers, accelerate innovation and growth, and improve the financial performance of the business.  Thank you to the GE Digital Team and to our customers. I invite you to learn more about our incredible team by watching our 2020 momentum here: