Ingersoll Rand recently named Matt Emmerich as its next Chief Information Officer. His purview spans technology strategy and operations, infrastructure, applications and information security. But what he is really looking forward to is collaborating with colleagues across the globe to solve challenging problems and drive growth via tech-enabled products and services.
“The cool thing about (the role) is that this organization is really here to work with business units to solve customer needs,” he said.
Emmerich joins Ingersoll Rand, the $6.5 billion manufacturer and distributor of air compressors, pumps, vacuums and power tools, among other products, after a nearly two-decade run at Polaris. In that time, the company grew from around $2 billion in annual revenue to more than $8 billion and Emmerich gained expertise in areas like manufacturing, enterprise technology transformation, cybersecurity and M&A integrations, to name a few.
Those experiences will come in handy as Ingersoll Rand pursues a growth strategy built around three pillars: digitization, sustainability and quality of life. Emmerich said he looks forward to finding ways IT can drive growth, connectivity and innovation across the firm’s portfolio of more than 40 brands while modernizing the technology foundation to enable greater speed and scale.
He is also exploring how technologies like AI and robotic process automation can power new services and drive employee productivity, pursuing a hybrid cloud strategy and planning career development initiatives for his colleagues in IT.
No matter the initiative, Emmerich reiterated the need to focus on practical outcomes tied to the company’s broader strategy. “We don’t want to innovate for the sake of innovation,” he said. “Let’s understand and make sure we’re confident in the application.”
Emmerich’s M&A experience will be helpful as dealmaking remains core to Ingersoll Rand’s growth plans. Citing a number of transactions in progress, CEO Vicente Reynal recently reaffirmed the expectation that M&A would bring in $200 million to $300 million in annualized inorganic revenue this year.
“A company that publicly talks about inorganic growth has implications for tech teams,” Emmerich said. “There are skills we have to be really good at, from understanding and being able to assess another company, M&A integration, and being able to scale and share data.”
Though Emmerich has only been in the CIO seat for a few weeks, the spirit of ownership and entrepreneurship among his colleagues has made an impression on him. He said conversations have focused on what’s best for customers and the business instead of just the IT team, signs of a strong and collaborative culture.
“You can see it, feel it, live it every single day.”
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