Sharon Mandell Of Juniper Networks: How to Optimize IT Resources Through Infrastructure, People, and Processes

An Interview With Rachel Kline

Communicate, communicate, communicate — and listen, too. While technology competency is extraordinarily important in technical roles and managing optimization, equally important are empathy and communication. Make it a point to deeply understand your business partners’ goal and help them understand where you can help and the costs, so they can make good business decisions.

In the dynamic realm of Information Technology, resource optimization stands as a cornerstone of efficiency and innovation. Balancing the triad of infrastructure, people, and processes is crucial for IT organizations to thrive and to provide consistent value. Yet, how can IT leaders ensure that every resource is utilized to its full potential? How do the principles of modern infrastructure align with human capital and streamlined processes to ensure that IT departments are agile, robust, and forward-thinking? As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Sharon Mandell.

Sharon is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer leading Juniper Networks’ global information technology team. In this role, she leads the ongoing enhancement of the company’s IT infrastructure and applications architectures to support the growth objectives of the company. Prior to joining Juniper in 2020, Mandell was the Chief Information Officer for TIBCO Software and previously developed her leadership strategy at Harmonic, Black Arrow (now Cadent), Knight Ridder and the Tribune Company. Mandell serves on various arts and education related boards and proudly serves on the computer science advisory board at Temple University.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

Well, I certainly didn’t know I wanted to be an IT professional and didn’t even know what a CIO was when I started college. I was training to be a professional dancer at the Pennsylvania Ballet when I was pushed by my father to start college rather than take a year off to audition for ballet companies. Toward the end of my first year at Temple University, a professor working as an advisor asked me what I liked and did not like about my courseload. Based on my responses, he suggested that I try a computer science course. Frankly, I thought he was crazy. But after he described it to me as an interesting and rapidly growing field and reminding me I never had to take another if I didn’t like it, I decided to give it a chance. From there, the rest is history!

When I started my career, I was a software engineer developing networking protocol stacks. Today, coming full circle in a varied career, I am privileged to serve as the Chief Information Officer at Juniper Networks. As a member of the executive team who reports directly to the CEO, I, working with my team, enable the customer and employee experience through the smart use of technology. We are responsible for the cross-functional platforms on which Juniper operates its business. For example, we lead the Enterprise Data Platform, creating data products used by applications, data analysts, and scientists across the company. We also proudly use Juniper’s networking product as its first and best customer.

I am passionate about several pillars of Juniper’s ESG platform, including sustainability and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I am the Executive Sponsor of the affinity group Women at Juniper. With a focus on ethical artificial intelligence, I helped develop Juniper’s AI principles and am part of the steering committee planning the company’s use of generative AI.

Let’s talk about how to optimize IT Resources. How do you assess the current state of your IT infrastructure? What metrics do you use to measure its efficiency?

The simplistic way to answer this question is around capacity management and project prioritization to ensure that resources are fully utilized. But in today’s world, with the integration of automation tools and AI, the definition of ‘full potential’ for a resource has evolved, and a more nuanced approach is necessary.

Today, when we discuss a resource being used to its full potential, it’s not merely about maximizing hours of labor or output. Instead, it’s also a question of complementing work that leverages the strengths and capabilities of people with systems that can manage mundane or difficult tasks — like quickly synthesizing huge volumes of seemingly unrelated data in very constrained periods of time.

Ultimately, IT leaders need to delve deeper into truly understanding their resources, ensuring they are not only engaged but working on things that use their unique skills and capabilities to the best advantage, while aligning them to help deliver the most important outcomes for their organization.

How do you prioritize and allocate resources for hardware and software upgrades to maximize performance?

It begins with aligning priorities with company OKRs. Once we understand the most important initiatives for the year, we ensure we’re putting resources towards those first, but also maintain that delicate balance of operating what we already have today and ensuring that we don’t allow too much technical debt to develop. Constantly questioning how to support current operations more efficiently and cost-effectively tomorrow is crucial to accommodate new priorities. While IT budgets may grow, they never grow as fast as the demand for new capabilities. Finding ways to retire old, aging technology and replace with new, more efficient ones is always something IT leaders are doing, in addition to implementing brand new things.

As more and more SaaS platforms emerge, that don’t necessarily require IT intervention to implement, leaders should also implement a more rigorous, strategy-aligned software approval process for their company to avoid duplicative spend, interrogating the efficacy of solutions around renewals, and making sure contract volumes are rightsized. Further, scrutinizing system enhancement requests and ensuring they continue to make sense to execute as a business, and align with the current strategy, is essential.

What security measures do you have in place to safeguard your IT infrastructure while optimizing its performance?

No matter what approach one takes to optimization, it all starts and ends with risk. My team and I want to make everyone’s job easier but not at the risk of our employees, customers, data, and so on. So, security investments are always high on my or any other CIO’s priority list. At Juniper, no new software is purchased without going through a security approval process. Even if the software meets that test, further reviews are needed to be sure it is implemented without creating any new exposures. All software goes through a secure development lifecycle process. We are currently implementing a Zero Trust architecture, which basically validates, in real time, that the user looking to access an application or resource actually has the authority and rights to do so. But while we work hard to build a secure network, in today’s high stakes world, that alone is not enough.

With increasing levels of adoption of AI in the workplace comes increased security risks — including securing GenAI systems themselves. Bad actors’ access to these tools heightens the risk of attacks on enterprises. At Juniper Networks, I expect that we will grow a proportional percentage of our IT budget on prevention, mitigation, and recovery efforts in response to evolving threats. Significant investments in security training and awareness are essential, as people tend to be the weakest link. It is just too easy to click on the wrong link in a carefully crafted email written just for you by a bad actor — security needs to be top of mind for employees, and without consistent reminders, it just will not be.

How do you identify the skill sets and competencies required for your IT team to effectively manage and optimize resources?

Managing and optimizing resources based on team competencies and skillsets requires a relentless focus on organizational goals and priorities, while also balancing and encouraging the freedom to explore. Leaders need to understand the key projects and IT initiatives in the pipeline to align their teams while encouraging adaptability. IT teams cannot get stuck in the technology they are working on today, because that technology might need to change tomorrow.

While we certainly hire and use third parties for critical urgent needs, I prefer hiring for more than the skillset of the project du jour. It is essential to hire for mindset as well. Someone who is curious, passionate about their field, who’s background demonstrates they are never satisfied with where they are today, but always looking to improve, someone who has broader interests than just the current thing they are heads down in in the office, but look outside for inspiration, someone who embraces and likes change. If one thing is certain in the IT field, it is that change is constant and the more comfortable you are with that (which does not always come naturally), the more successful you are likely to be.

What strategies do you use to foster professional development and continuous learning within your IT team?

Continuous learning is a priority for my team and across the company at Juniper Networks as a whole. In the IT world, change is a constant and it is a very broad field. We are working up and down the tech stack from networks to applications, and across the business from sales to finance to legal to customer support and success. There’s always something new to learn, and to advance, you must develop confidence that you can manage across domains, not just in the one you became expert in. So, we leverage the training services that the company provides first, and then we have developed a curriculum across a set of subjects — communications skills, financial acumen, business strategy, etc. that we feel our IT leaders need to possess in addition to the technical skills they naturally bring. Specific technology training from third parties may also be necessary for new implementations. Additionally, I encourage team members to network outside the company, gaining insights from other industries.

However, despite offering comprehensive training, it ultimately requires engaged employees who proactively seek learning opportunities. That may require managers to help them understand that the time they spend developing themselves is important enough to take time out of their busy schedules where they are pressured to meet project deliverables and operational metrics. But it certainly helps to hire that mindset to begin with.

Can you share examples of how cross-functional collaboration has contributed to resource optimization in your IT department?

There’s no such thing as an IT initiative; rather, there are business initiatives enabled by IT. Effective IT operations inherently involve cross-functional collaboration. In terms of collaborations that optimize resources, we work very hard to make sure that roles that are driven by functional subject matter expertise, i.e., reporting or data science analysis live in the departments that the analysis serves, while keeping the roles requiring specific IT expertise, i.e., data engineering, in IT, then creating cross functional teams to drive execution of data projects. Similarly, for customer success, a joint product selection resulted in choosing an offering where they can operate independently from IT, except for underlying data engineering.

Additionally, we rely on data and analysis from HR and finance to have visibility into our spend and resource allocation. We recently implemented the TBM (Technology Business Management) framework to gain detailed visibility into where our resources are going, by business function, technology tower, etc., but could not have done that without partnership from FP&A and HR. Their help is even more essential when we start to look at the total technology spend of the company, where dollars are spent without IT oversight or control, which may then lead to cross functional work to optimize those tech resources where it makes sense. Our ability to collaborate with our product development teams on contracting allows us to ride the coattails of their much larger cloud spend for better discounts as well.

How do you identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies in your IT processes that might hinder resource optimization?

AI and automation are only as good as the task being automated and the quality of the data being used. Ultimately, employees should refocus their fears and insecurities around AI towards thinking about how it could positively free up their time for more meaningful work.

It has been a mission of mine to encourage increased usage and a higher quality of corporate data. The Enterprise Data Governance and Enablement (EDGE) program at Juniper Networks produces significant results by improving our operational infrastructure and creating data products that enable various new capabilities within Juniper. The team’s work has helped deliver a 52% performance increase of our Tableau infrastructure. It reduced long-running Alteryx jobs by 83% and job failures by 77%, dramatically improving the productivity of our users.

How do you ensure that your IT processes are aligned with business objectives and contribute to overall organizational efficiency?

The OKR process we use creates the first level of alignment, at the most cross functional view across the company. Separately, each department creates a plan of record (POR) for their most important departmental outcomes. IT collaborates with each department to determine what can be achieved given the funding envelope and then on the solutions to be delivered in support of that POR. Those plans are reviewed mid-year to make adjustments based on new priorities arising, or perhaps a certain project not delivering as expected, etc.

Additionally, we share data from the TBM analysis so that departments can understand how they are utilizing IT funds to be sure they feel they still align with the most important outcomes we are trying to drive.

Can you share experiences where you’ve successfully automated routine tasks to free up resources for higher-value activities?

My favorite example is the use of our own products, Mist and Apstra. For the networking sector, AI allows network engineers to get out of the weeds of fixing and building the network itself and provide the necessary freedom to focus on more strategic tasks that contribute to their long-term growth. For many jobs — AI won’t necessarily eliminate the role, but instead foster efficiency and purpose.

Mist AI, for example, helps network operators save time and more efficiently manage the mundane task of trying to pinpoint an issue in the network, which often takes hours and hours of correlating massive quantities of data, something humans are much less adept at than machines. Instead, Mist powers the industry’s first AI-driven Virtual Network Assistant to provide operators and IT staff insight via a conversational interface. It solves the problem of trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Other technologies being used in the company for automation are New Relic, to automate tasks like server builds that happen repeatedly. Users know if they select pre-sized, automated server builds, much like you would buy from cloud providers, it will arrive orders of magnitude faster than if they request custom configurations. We are also expanding the use of RPA in the company using Automation Anywhere to allow business users to create bots to automate repetitive tasks that happen in the business functions such as finance, sales, and services.

What are your 5 Tips to Optimize IT Resources Through Infrastructure, People, and Processes?

1. Identify and prioritize your highest-value outcomes and supporting initiatives. CIOs and IT leaders can make their dollar go further, while at the same time adding value to their organizations. The key is having clarity on what initiatives have the highest, most meaningful impact to the organization, whether it’s driving revenue, cost savings, increased productivity, or improving quality and consistency. Understanding where new technology can have the most significant impacts — whether that is measured in financial, efficiency, cultural, or other terms — will help everything from determining priorities to measuring outcomes. This is especially important in adverse macroeconomic conditions or any other headwinds. Sorting the must-haves from the nice-to-haves is crucial to maximizing ROI, especially if you’re operating under a “do more with less” mandate.

2. When it comes to AI — or any new technology — get in the water, but don’t dive into the deep end. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of AI like ChatGPT and rushing to use it to stay relevant or to explore how AI might help optimize different areas of an organization. My advice is to understand the tech first and through POCs before placing long term bets. Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize the way we work but we need to understand where it does and doesn’t drive significant outcomes. Find projects where you can start small and test it out before going all in. And remember, the latest new kid on the block doesn’t mean technologies you already have like more standard automation tools and RPA can’t continue to add value.

3. Communicate, communicate, communicate — and listen, too. While technology competency is extraordinarily important in technical roles and managing optimization, equally important are empathy and communication. Make it a point to deeply understand your business partners’ goal and help them understand where you can help and the costs, so they can make good business decisions.

4. Collaborate and coordinate. IT cannot optimize if it is working in a silo. It is critical to partner across the organization to gather feedback and ensure alignment. My team, for example, partners with the product and engineering teams to bring solutions to market, the applications teams provide tools and experiences both internally and externally to customers and partners working with financials, human resources, sales, services, customer success, supply chain, engineering and more. We work in partnership with the business functions to select and implement systems to deliver systems that ensure we meet the strategic objectives at the company.

5. Invest in people and smartly use AI and automation. Even with the advent of AI, your strongest assets are still your people. Hire people with a growth mindset, who are curious and want to learn new things. Develop them both technically and in other core skills for business success. Identify and grow your leaders. Then use AI smartly to amplify them by removing tedious, mundane work or helping with the things people aren’t naturally good at.

How do you maintain a balance between short-term resource optimization goals and long-term strategic IT planning?

While cutting costs is necessary to maintaining a sustainable business in tighter economic environments, leaders must look at cost cutting with a long-term lens to determine what is manageable. You should never sacrifice long-term growth for short-term savings.

Governance and collaboration around technology spend starts at the top. You must have the ear of the leaders of the company when hard choices need to be made so you can be clear about the business impacts of cuts, gain their buy in, and their engagement in helping you achieve those reductions. They must make sure their teams understand the hard decisions that sometimes need to be made. And hopefully, working together you find those places where you can take hits in the short term while not putting the company strategy and long term success at risk. If you try to do it all on your own, you might make decisions that have impacts the business is not willing to accept.

What role does feedback from end-users and stakeholders play in shaping your resource optimization strategies?

Feedback plays a huge role. There are times when it is not necessary, because some changes can be made to be almost invisible. But let’s say you’re optimizing your SaaS and applications portfolio — inevitably you’re going to take away a tool that a group of people has become very used to using. When making that decision, it is important to make sure they understand the implications and can give you feedback as to any gaps that might arise as a result of your decision. The goal is to optimize without hindering users’ ability to accomplish their work effectively.

How do you adapt your resource optimization strategies to accommodate technological advancements and industry trends?

I believe trends develop around new technologies because it’s believed that technology offers new value that wasn’t their before. Very often, that is some form of resource optimization — a new tool allows you to combine the functionality of two old ones, it creates productivity enhancements requiring fewer resources, it allows you to serve more customers in ways they prefer and shift your resourcing requirements. Whatever the case may be, it embodies a form of optimization. Therefore, I am not convinced that adapting your optimization strategy for new technology is necessary; rather, optimization should be a fundamental component of that strategy.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

There are so many, but right now I’d choose Satya Nadella. He has executed a remarkable business transformation at Microsoft, and I would love to learn from that experience. Additionally, he also had a front row seat to this remarkable Generative AI technology because of Microsoft’s large investments in OpenAI and how they have incorporated those learnings into their products already. So two birds with one breakfast!!

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.