In autumn 2015, the US-based multinational conglomerate GE announced that it was creating a new business unit, GE Digital. The digital company is intended to take on IBM and the large analytics players, and become a leader in the industrial internet of things. The new business model is headed up by Bill Ruh, formerly GE’s vice president and global technology director. He now has the job title of chief digital officer (CDO). Ruh has the responsibility – along with chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt – of turning GE into one of the world’s premier digital industrial companies.

For such a big role, it is not a well-known job title. According to Tim Bourgeois, only 5% of the world’s largest companies have a CDO, and in some industry sectors – such as utilities – CDOs are notable only by their complete absence. Bourgeois is the founder and editor of US-based ChiefDigitalOfficer.net, a global community of senior digital professionals. ‘We’re bullish on the role expanding for the next three to five years,’ he says. ​‘As more and more digital overnight sensations like Airbnb, Netflix and Uber emerge – which get boatloads of coverage by the press and give CEOs and boards of directors fits – we expect more companies to rely on CDO-centric strategies to direct digital transformation efforts.’

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