GE Digital acquires ServiceMax to accelerate industrial productivity

GE Digital, an industrial analytics provider has completed the acquisition of ServiceMax, a provider of cloud-based field service management (FSM) solutions, for $915 million. The company believes that the acquisition will provide GE Digital with new capabilities in the $1 trillion market for industrial service, enabling customers to immediately gain more value from their assets and find greater efficiency in their field service processes. Furthermore, the company claims to bring together the use of digital twins, cloud applications and big data analytics with world-class field services domain expertise to unlock asset productivity for industrial customers. GE will also add analytics and insights into the ServiceMax logistics, workforce optimization and deployment models. GE explains that Predix is a software platform that offers complete connectivity from the edge to the cloud and computing capabilities at every level of the industrial software stack. The company plans to combine Predix with ServiceMax technologies to help industrial customers accelerate productivity outcomes for industry, combining cloud-based mobile applications with Predix.

“This acquisition advances our vision of building a Predix-powered industrial world. Improved productivity is critical for industry, and digitizing field services is a cornerstone of a successful digital industrial strategy,” said Bill Ruh, CEO, GE Digital.

“By combining our technologies with ServiceMax, we continue to enhance the overall Predix technology stack for our customers. This transaction, along with our previous acquisitions of Wurldtech, Meridium, BitStew and Wise.io, is directly aligned with our strategy to drive growth both inorganically and organically by building the capabilities to support the digital industrial transformation through Predix, APM and the Digital Thread,” he added. ServiceMax claims to provide a full suite of applications, including inventory and parts logistics, scheduling and workforce optimization, and work order management. As a result of this transaction, customers will be able to access these offerings from a modern rapid application development cloud and field-ready mobile platform that combines GE’s deep domain expertise and industrial portfolio with ServiceMax’s field service expertise. The company will leverage the Predix platform to further the development of additional industrial applications focused on service delivery.