Immelt and Little looked at the tech sector and realized that if a competitor invaded with the right knowledge, it could disrupt GE unless they acted. However, because of their industrial domain knowledge, they knew that the company had a unique opportunity to lead in the digital space. But they needed a new level of advanced software and analytics competency. They recruited Bill Ruh from Cisco to become vice president of GE Software, tasking him with driving the rapid creation of a massive new software and data analytics headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley.
