Fortune 100 | episode 422

General Electric CIO Chris Drumgoole

Chris Drumgoole is the Chief Information Officer of General Electric, a Fortune 25 company with revenues exceeding $120 billion. As CIO, Chris is responsible for developing IT strategy, applications, and operations across the different business units. Chris oversees a team of 10,000 individuals who build and run the digital technology that keeps GE’s businesses running and communicating with its customers all day, every day. Prior to joining GE, Chris was the Chief Operating Officer and SVP of Global Operations at Verizon Enterprise Solutions. December 02, 2019

422: General Electric CIO Chris Drumgoole discusses the changes GE has made through a period of great change for the company. While the company led the way in outsourcing technology, Chris points out that that is not aligned with the digital world. Because of this, the company has decided to invest in IT talent and grow that capability within the company. Also, in an effort to modernize IT, the company has spent a great deal of time transforming end-user technology. We also discuss GE’s two-fold approach to attracting talent, how Chris looks to ride the fine line between standardization across business unit IT versus investing in solutions specific to one BU versus another. We also cover the cultural change afoot in the company and how the company is in the process of shifting from being a deep domain expert instead of a generalist, and a variety of other topics.

The World Class IT principles in yellow were the focus of this interview

  • 01 1- People
  • 02 2- Infrastructure
  • 03 3- Project and Portfolio Management
  • 04 4- IT & Business Partnership
  • 05 5- External Partnerships

From strategy to implementation

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