JCI: Building a global foundation for smart growth by strengthening IT reliability and efficiency
Advancing global IT operations with generative AI
Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI), a leading pioneer of building technology, is reimagining IT operations with generative AI. Using the SAP Automation Pilot service, JCI automated 3,000 hours of repetitive system monitoring tasks—freeing talent to innovate, mitigating downtime risk, and turning a behind-the-scenes operation into a strategic edge.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Industrial manufacturing | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | 94,000 employees |
hours saved annually and reinvested in strategic projects.
KPIs for IT system health now monitored automatically.
Platform Architecture and Delivery Leader, JCI Center of Expertise, Johnson Controls Inc.
Confronting the burden of manual monitoring across global IT systems
Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI), a global leader in smart, safe, healthy, and sustainable buildings, powers the environments where people live, work, learn, and play. Behind that mission is a vast digital backbone supporting more than 30 SAP enterprise systems, which keep global operations moving. Yet the way those systems were monitored no longer aligned with the company’s future vision.
Every six hours, IT staff logged in to check performance, capture KPIs, and prepare reports. The work was entirely manual, consuming thousands of hours each year. Reports were often outdated as soon as they were written.
The risks were significant. A single missed issue could cascade into unplanned downtime, disrupting manufacturing plants, slowing global operations, and eroding customer trust. For a company whose mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places, and the planet, running critical IT systems this way was unsustainable.
The toll on the workforce was equally pressing. Skilled IT professionals found themselves stuck in repetitive tasks that offered little value. As Chandra Talasila, platform architecture and delivery leader for JCI’s Center of Expertise for SAP solutions, explains, “Spending resources on repetitive tasks has no value. Our people want to learn, innovate, and focus on work that matters.”
To stay true to its mission and advance its digital journey, JCI recognized that its IT backbone needed to evolve. The path forward would increase business resilience, operational efficiency, and sustainable growth.
Platform Architecture and Delivery Leader, JCI Center of Expertise, Johnson Controls Inc.
Strengthening IT value with automated monitoring and insights
JCI runs multiple instances of on-premises and cloud ERP solutions from SAP, forming a complex digital backbone that supports global operations (see the figure). However, managing this landscape demanded smarter oversight.
The company turned to the SAP Automation Pilot service, running on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), to automate the repetitive task of system health monitoring. Using generative AI, the service shifted a manual process into one that intelligently tracks KPIs and produces insights across more than 30 SAP enterprise systems.
To guide the effort, JCI partnered with the SAP MaxAttention program to access both strategy and hands-on expertise through innovation discovery workshops, architectural design, and implementation support. That mix of vision and execution enabled the company to develop a scalable approach that suits its global operations.
“SAP Automation Pilot enables automated collection of system health KPIs and generates insights using generative AI in a low-code environment,” shares Talasila. “Collaborating with SAP MaxAttention gave us the tools and insights to deliver a proven and successful pilot.”
Yet, SAP Automation Pilot was never intended to stand alone. JCI is also weaving other AI-enabled solutions from SAP into its road map. For example, the Joule copilot is embedded in the SAP Integrated Business Planning solution to test how natural language can streamline planning tasks. With the SAP EarlyWatch Alert service, the company’s IT teams now receive automated analyses and summaries on essential administrative areas of its on-premises and cloud solution landscape.
Each of these solutions builds on the same principle of embedding intelligence into the core of IT, enabling operations to become smarter, faster, and more adaptable to change. For JCI, this approach marked the beginning of a new way to run its global systems.
Platform Architecture and Delivery Leader, JCI Center of Expertise, Johnson Controls Inc.
Eliminating downtime risk and freeing talent for higher-value work
With the support of SAP Automation Pilot and SAP MaxAttention, JCI has reshaped how its IT backbone contributes to the business. Automating health monitoring business-wide has saved 3,000 hours each year. IT activities once seen as a repetitive burden are now sources of insight and resilience.
The most immediate gain was business continuity. Automated monitoring eliminates the risk of unplanned downtime, helping ensure that manufacturing plants, customer-facing services, and global operations run without interruption. Around-the-clock reporting replaced outdated manual checks and gives IT leaders a clear, real-time view of performance across the enterprise. Standardized reporting also created a consistent baseline for decision-making and compliance, replacing fragmented, system-by-system reports with a unified approach.
The human impact has been just as significant. By removing the need for repetitive reporting, the initiative energized the IT workforce. Employees now focus on automation, AI integration, and new applications that deliver lasting value to the business.
Most important, JCI has found a new way to advance its mission. With 25 system KPIs monitored automatically, a track record of zero downtime risk, and a workforce motivated by meaningful work, the IT organization is no longer limited to maintaining systems. It has become a partner in enabling smarter, safer, and more-sustainable buildings worldwide.
Platform Architecture and Delivery Leader, JCI Center of Expertise, Johnson Controls Inc.
Expanding automation and AI to build smarter operations
Having established a foundation with SAP Automation Pilot and guidance from SAP MaxAttention, JCI is charting new opportunities to embed AI deeper into its IT operations.
“This is the first step for us,” Talasila states. “Now that we have the foundation to embrace business AI, we are thinking about the upcoming road map for future AI use cases.”
So far, that road map includes automating pre- and post-maintenance validations, streamlining recurring IT tickets, and introducing digital applications to manage outage communications with greater speed and transparency.
Looking further ahead, JCI is exploring the role of agentic AI to provide proactive recommendations and decision support. The company is also evaluating the RISE with SAP journey as part of its cloud transformation journey to bring more AI-driven process optimization into operations.
“We have a lot of encouragement within our leadership to step into AI,” adds Talasila. “That’s why we are looking at how to evolve with automations, how to leverage generative AI, and how to use agentic AI down the road.”
By extending automation, scaling AI, and aligning its IT strategy and mission, JCI is building an IT organization that actively drives resilience and growth. The result will not only strengthen business outcomes but also advance the company’s purpose of creating smarter, safer, healthier, and more sustainable buildings that shape better environments for people around the world.