Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)

95% AI Adoption: How Zoetis Built a Model-Agnostic Platform That Stuck

Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)

Show Notes

Most generative AI programs stall at the pilot stage. Zoetis reached 95% computer-based colleague adoption.

In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Keith Sarbaugh, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Zoetis, about how the world’s leading animal health company built an AI platform that colleagues actually use, and how Sarbaugh measures whether any of it is working.

Sarbaugh spent over two decades in human pharmaceuticals at companies including Eli Lilly and Biogen before joining Zoetis in 2023. He now oversees IT, AI, data, cybersecurity, and global customer experience, and describes the role as more hybrid business-technology leader than traditional CIO.

Key Highlights:

Why Zoetis built a model-agnostic platform (Zen AI) with 10–11 LLMs rather than standardizing on one

How a 350-person global Change Champion Network drove adoption faster than any top-down mandate

What Sarbaugh’s Business Value Realization Framework requires teams to define before a project begins

Where agentic AI earns its place: rules-based, high-value decisions like supply chain demand forecasting

Why aggregating all customer touchpoints at 10x prior volume revealed service failures that NPS never could

This episode is sponsored by Tines. This episode is presented by Tines: Freedom to build. Complete security. No compromises. Learn more at tines.io

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