William Blair: GE Software's Data Analytics 'The Next Big Thing' For The Company, Can Become As Important As GE Capital Was

General Electric Company GE reported better than expected second-quarter earnings earlier on Friday and also upped its earnings guidance for industrials business to $1.13-1.20 from $1.10-1.20 earlier.

Nick Heyman, William Blair analyst, was on CNBC to discuss how GE Software's data analytics has a lot of potential going forward.

The Next Big Thing

"It's a reinvention of the company," Heyman began. "They found the next big thing, I think, and that's probably GE Software's data analytics which could in fact become as important by early mid next decade as GE Capital was over the last couple of decades. By exiting Capital, the big unknown, they are really shifting back now to become the premier supplier of global base infrastructure - power, water, transportation, oil and gas -- critical needs that are unmet around the world."

Tracking Industrial Equipments World Over

Heyman was asked what exactly does GE Software's data analytics arm does. He replied, "Predictive analytics for them is now moving way beyond their 1 trillion installed base of industrial products. And in fact, they are able to through the industrial internet and partners use their predict software to begin to track real-time what's going on all over the world for virtually all industrial equipments."

Importance Of Data Analytics

Heyman highlighted how important data analytics is for big industrial companies, saying, "We remember when companies way back were getting involved in digitizing their business models in the late 90s. And that certainly was a big transformative factor for industrial companies. But today just GE, Honeywell, and Rockwell are really involved in data analytics and that's really the next generation of digital aftermarket for industrial companies."