Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Mobile

    #1: GE Keeps E-Business Turned On

    By
    Lisa Vaas
    -
    November 12, 2001
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Jack Welch may be gone, retired as CEO, but the hard-charging management style that earned him the title Neutron Jack lives on at General Electric Co. Only now, rather than just focusing on improving the employee gene pool by lopping off the 10 percent of workers with the lowest performance appraisals—Welchs success formula—the management mantra is to transform GE into an e-business by digitizing as many business processes as possible. A typical step: GE Global Exchange Services recently banned pen and paper in its few remaining nonvirtual meetings in favor of laptops with wireless LAN cards.

      The “do this or else” nature of the edict is pure Welch. Its also part of a much larger e-business drive at GE that includes digitizing as much as possible the information that flows through all of GEs key business processes. That means moving to electronic transactions for everything from finance and human resources processes to sales invoicing and reconciling. GE even imposed a Nov. 1 deadline for all invoices and payments between internal purchasing agents and suppliers to be made via digital channels. Its also moved travel requests to an online travel center, where travel approval is built into the workflow. That initiative alone is expected to save GE $200 million this year in improved efficiencies and reduced travel.

      Altogether, according to executives, all GE digitization initiatives will shave off about $1.6 billion in costs for this year and up to $10 billion in coming years. Its that kind of commitment to e-business, in spite of the economic slowdown, that earned GE, based in Fairfield, Conn., the No. 1 slot on eWeeks yearly FastTrack 500 list of technology innovators.

      Its little wonder, with savings in the billions on the horizon, that GE is rethinking neither its e-business strategy nor its IT spending levels, economic downturn or no economic downturn. The company is on track to increase IT spending 12 percent, to $3 billion, this year. “Weve been doing it when times are good and when times are bad, and we believe in it,” said Gary Reiner, senior vice president and CIO, in Fairfield.

      GEs focus on technical innovation shines in countless ways across its 20 divisions. One sell-side example is a precision fulfillment initiative in GEs consumer appliance business, a program introduced last year in conjunction with retailer The Home Depot Inc., of Atlanta (No. 440 on the FastTrack 500). The program allows customers to walk into a Home Depot store, buy an appliance online at a kiosk, and select a delivery date and time. Web-based systems at GE warehouses help coordinate fulfillment and promise deliveries within 15 minutes of customers specifications.

      Going Once, Twice, Sold

      Going Once, Twice, Sold

      GEs e-business achievements certainly arent limited to internal or sell-side processes. On the buy side, GE has conducted a massive push to embrace online auctions. GE will conduct about $14 billion in auctions companywide this year, and it anticipates $600 million in savings mainly by deflating prices.

      GE has taken a leading role in pushing suppliers and internal purchasing agents to embrace online B2B processes. Starting Nov. 1, they all had to be ready to invoice and receive payments electronically, lest they forgo doing business with GE at all. According to Kurt Kemmerer, CIO of finance for GE, the company is well on its way to hitting the milestone of 100 percent electronic invoice processing, with well over 90 percent of invoices traveling via the Web, electronic data interchange or direct file transfer as of the beginning of September.

      Migrating these processes to electronic routing scores multiple wins for GE: It makes it easier for the company to get up-to-date data, it means fewer errors from purchase orders being set up incorrectly, and it makes for quicker turnaround reconciling bills—instantaneously, as opposed to weeks, Kemmerer said.

      But its not just the e-business technologies and processes a company embraces that define an eWeek FastTrack winner; knowing when to keep IT dollars in corporate pockets is also a key competitive advantage. GEs shrugged-shoulder attitude toward wireless computing is an example. GE limits its use of wireless to a few select applications, such as equipping field engineers with wireless personal digital assistants.

      Such measured use of wireless technology is increasingly common as companies demand sure payback on e-business initiatives, experts say. “At the end of the day, a lot of deployments people are looking at really dont give you a good payback,” said Jack Gold, an analyst at Meta Group Inc., in Westboro, Mass. GEs wireless deployments are the kind that do give payback, Gold said, including applications that require immediacy of data.

      And GE is always thinking about how to get IT spending to pay off, Reiner said. Its usually satisfied. The majority of small projects see payback in 12 months; big projects are expected to pay off in 24. That seems like a quick turnaround, but thats why we call this the FastTrack. Or, as Reiner put it, “Were trying to live on the Web, here.”

      Jack Welch would be proud.

      Lisa Vaas
      Lisa Vaas is News Editor/Operations for eWEEK.com and also serves as editor of the Database topic center. Since 1995, she has also been a Webcast news show anchorperson and a reporter covering the IT industry. She has focused on customer relationship management technology, IT salaries and careers, effects of the H1-B visa on the technology workforce, wireless technology, security, and, most recently, databases and the technologies that touch upon them. Her articles have appeared in eWEEK's print edition, on eWEEK.com, and in the startup IT magazine PC Connection. Prior to becoming a journalist, Vaas experienced an array of eye-opening careers, including driving a cab in Boston, photographing cranky babies in shopping malls, selling cameras, typography and computer training. She stopped a hair short of finishing an M.A. in English at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She earned a B.S. in Communications from Emerson College. She runs two open-mic reading series in Boston and currently keeps bees in her home in Mashpee, Mass.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×