> Today one of San Ramon’s most important projects is to build a computer operating system, but on an industrial scale ... The project is central to G.E.’s drive to become what Mr. Immelt says will be a “top 10 software company” by 2020.
Does anyone know of such a list that's a genuine reflection of reality?
The "top" idea is really murky because there's so many ways to define leading. I'll make a large bet that GE Digital will not be top at the following for developers due to so much inertia in IT and software in the company being cost-centric rather than innovation-centric:
They may win on number employeed (they just announced a big software development office in India) or perhaps when comparing these figures to competitors like Honeywell, Caterpillar, Phillips rather than the big, high value brand software companies.
This isn't to say that this means failure. Perhaps they can win on cultural perception (say, work-life balance) or career growth and capitalize upon a backlash against Silicon Valley engineer lifestyles. But everything I've seen about Predix from a customer and engineer perspective, which is what they're betting an awful lot on, is hardly compelling to me.
This reminds me of my company. The IT department is also calling itself "Digital" now and they are pushing themselves more and more into all company divisions. But they are managed by people who don't have passion for or understanding of technology. Sometimes it feels like the leadership is afraid of technology.
They just know that "Digital" and "Big Data" are big now and they have to get into it. It reminds me of the internet bubble times when lots of companies did "internet" without knowing what it really means.
Does anyone know of such a list that's a genuine reflection of reality?