In global enterprises, AI rarely fails because the models are weak. It fails because the work surrounding the models — data quality, content governance, domain knowledge, and day-to-day adoption — isn’t strong enough to sustain impact. Few leaders understand this better than Ajay Anand, SVP of Strategic Solutions and Commercial Services, Global Services at Johnson & Johnson (J&J), who has been with the company for over 25 years and has seen firsthand how enterprise-scale transformation succeeds or stalls.

Anand argues that the path to durable value starts by treating AI as a stakeholder-first transformation discipline, with data and content quality being foundational for success with AI. 

In this first installment of a three-part conversation, Anand speaks with Kevin Barboza, AI and Data Partner at EY, about how J&J Global Services turns AI into operational capability, anchored by JAIDA, Johnson & Johnson Artificial Intelligence Digital Assistant, and accelerated by generative AI (GenAI) at enterprise scale.

Global Services as the enterprise operating engine

J&J Global Services is the company’s global business services organization, supporting its more than 138,000 employees and enabling end-to-end processes through a service model designed to create value and improve experiences.

“I joined Global Services because it’s one of the few places within J&J where you get to serve all employees, customers, suppliers, and healthcare professionals by reimagining our end-to-end processes and flawlessly executing to create value and enhance experiences for our stakeholders,” Anand says.

Anand’s perspective comes from both tenure and range. He began his career in the data space and worked across sectors and functions while building experience in large-scale transformations and go-to-market models.

Today, that arc culminates in leadership as the sponsor for Global Services’ GenAI transformation. In this role, he stays connected with advancements in AI, automation, and data management by participation within J&J’s Artificial Intelligence Council and leadership as a Co-chair for J&J’s Enterprise Council that is focused on data management. 

Why JAIDA becomes the launchpad for GenAI at scale

Rather than treating GenAI as a standalone pilot, Anand frames it as the progression of an existing interaction model, giving the example of JAIDA evolving into a GenAI chatbot.   

The results so far have been impressive and reinforce that GenAI can play a pivotal role in strengthening and amplifying the focus on creating value within Global Services.

The reimagining mindset: stakeholder centricity, domain depth, and quality inputs

Barboza points to a common market reality: many GenAI pilots don’t deliver expected value.

Anand’s answer is a blueprint rooted in fundamentals, starting with understanding stakeholders and defending quality at the input layer.

“My extensive experience across our functions, sectors, and regions has continually reaffirmed the critical importance of stakeholder centricity, deep domain expertise, high-quality data and content, and seamless collaboration, both internally and externally,” he says. “This is coupled with our talented teams’ innovation and disciplined execution, which are vital elements in driving value creation.”

In his view, reimagining work and delivering meaningful impact with AI are only possible when you have a deep understanding of users and their needs combined with domain knowledge, high-quality content and data, collaboration, and talent.

Embedding AI into ops without trading off experience

Inside Global Services, the strategy is “digital first,” spanning data analytics, AI, process mining, and continuous improvement. To create opportunities for transformational growth and data-driven value, Global Services uses AI across many of its services and processes to serve employees, customers, and suppliers.

JAIDA is a central example of what operationalization looks like at scale. It begins as conversational AI and expands into a broad employee support capability for J&J employees, covering roughly 3,000 topics across HR, procurement, finance, and employee experience. JAIDA-GenAI is currently in production for all employees and is embedded in real service environments.

Anand also shares that JAIDA does not stay static. “JAIDA is continuously improved upon and is now a scalable and sustainable capability that sets the basis for integrating GenAI into all of our Global Services capabilities.”

He notes that the payoff is practical because it’s immersed into how people work, which improves their effectiveness and productivity, giving employees time back to focus on higher value work.

Value and efficiency without adding friction

When asked whether the focus is service quality, internal optimization, or both, Anand reinforces that it is about both enhancing the quality of services for our employees and optimizing internal processes to create value, and both are primary focus areas. 

However, he draws a line around the experience, citing that this work cannot be done at the expense of customer experience or by introducing friction or errors into our processes.

For Global Services, that principle becomes the governing logic for scaling GenAI: drive effectiveness, experience, quality, and productivity while keeping the stakeholder experience intact.

“We are committed to looking at ways to improve and transform customer experience while also continuing to optimize our internal processes,” Anand concludes.

CDO Magazine appreciates Ajay Anand for sharing his insights with our global community.