CIO Sharon Mandell transforms Juniper Networks for the AI era

Traditionally, Juniper’s business processes were targeted toward very large, complex, and long sales cycles. Mist required the exact opposite: a more bundled package sale to the enterprise, Mandell says. It would not be easy, but the CIO — recognizing business alignment was the key — enlisted both the business and technology sides of the house and got to work.

“I locked on to the need for a business transformation, which required a change to many, if not all of our systems,” Mandell says. “Business transformation is a team sport and not always easy. IT can’t make this transformation alone. Leaders and subject matter experts in other impacted functions have to come along with this change in approach as well.”

Much input and planning were required to evolve Juniper’s business model and prepare for a services future, she says. The company started by selecting and implementing new products to better integrate teams. For example, she and her IT team modified Juniper’s Salesforce Opportunity Management system, implemented new sales forecasting approaches using Clari, re-engineered the company’s use of Oracle CPQ, and updated its SAP Order Management systems.