Internet technology already allows consumers to remotely monitor their homes and start their cars using smartphones. At General Electric, Vince Campisi has been instrumental in taking remote sensoring and monitoring technology to the even bigger, untapped market of heavy industry.
Before his appointment as CIO of GE Intelligent Platforms in Charlottesville, Va., last October, Campisi worked at GE Power & Water, where he helped to transform the oil, water and gas production process from a reactive, break/fix mode to a proactive alert-and-optimize mode. His group created a cloud-based software platform that leverages GE Intelligent Platform technology for collecting data from a water-cooling tower or oil refinery heat exchanger, for instance, and then alerting customers when those machines aren't working optimally.
"We're applying sensor technology to collect data, using big data techniques for extrapolating information and connecting the dots to find something that's warning you about an issue," Campisi says.
Today, 800 GE customers have subscribed to the cloud-based service. "It's something that's resonated with customers. It's really changing how we provide our services and how customers get better transparency to the value we can offer," he says.
GE Power & Water CIO Joanne Kugler calls Campisi a true business leader who thinks big. "When you combine his strong business process knowledge with his technical skills, he just gets it," she says.