Q&A with Sharon Mandell, SVP and CIO, Juniper Networks, on how AI can positively impact the role of a CIO.
Which aspects of the CIO role can be managed or enhanced by AI?
The potential ways are endless. For example, AI can save time by reducing the number of emails needing to be reviewed and the number of meetings we need to attend. It can even suggest a response to this exact question.
There may be a time where CIOs would prefer teams to ask their digital twin for an opinion or perspective on their behalf. However, this approach can be seen as quite impersonal and implies a lack of emotional intelligence (EQ) on behalf of the leader.
The role of a CIO usually consists of answering questions, where conventional ideals don’t always apply. Therefore, we often have to make choices which involve risks, ownership and accountability. Although AI can streamline the process of gathering data, major decisions which involve risk and accountability will always need a human touch, particularly when it comes to ethical considerations, strategic pivots or crisis management.”
Will increased productivity bring job losses in the tech field or is the growth of Gen AI creating more roles rather than reducing them?
The downfall of the CIO role has been predicted for a long time but has yet to happen. The role has changed and will continue to change with the emergence of new tools like AI. However, the more things change, the more they stay the same – there will always be a need for someone to link business functions across department silos, manage technology risks and assess how new technologies affect the business as a whole.
Although some of the tasks our teams currently do will become much easier with AI, I doubt that the CIO role will go away anytime soon, especially within large organizations. AI solutions will soon become a business necessity and there is a valid concern that these innovations may create more tech debt and complexity, which will require additional oversight. These tools ultimately create opportunities for strategic new roles focusing on both innovation and transformation.”
Smaller companies are already outsourcing their IT to SaaS providers for very small operations, or managed services providers (MSPs) for larger ones. With Gen AI, will these vendors climb the value chain and capture more business from larger clients?
It is possible, but these vendors would have to create the functionality larger businesses need that small companies don’t. For example, there are certain tools that providers have not built yet because smaller organizations simply don’t currently need them in the same way bigger companies do.
While GenAI could speed this up, it won’t happen overnight. Especially since even major software companies haven’t yet fully met the needs of enterprises. Smaller businesses might be able to scale easily without IT professionals. However, they grow beyond a certain point, they may need features which these vendors cannot offer, requiring them to evolve.
How can IT executives future-proof their careers? Should they focus on activities like cloud migrations, cybersecurity upgrades, AI-driven transformation, and improving business skills and emotional intelligence?
To future-proof their careers, IT executives must ensure they truly understand what is involved in their organization’s business – which AI can help with – and make time to build relationships with their business partners. By doing so, they can help them use technology to better achieve the company’s goals and reconsider how work can be done differently, using these new tools responsibly and safely to gain a competitive advantage.
Thinking about your career, how does this affect you, personally? Are you making any strategic shifts as a result?
For anyone who wants longevity in a technology focused career, they must stay abreast of key trends and leverage them to improve their skills and abilities for the role. One reason why I joined Juniper Networks was because it was clearly investing in AI to make network reliability and security easier to manage which is one aspect of the role CIOs tend to worry about. There was no better way to learn about what’s possible and how it could change my role other than to live it.
“Now that LLMs and other forms of Gen-AI are available, I’ve shifted a significant amount of time to better understand how it can help our business — both now and in the future. I’m also talking to other CIOs about where AI can add value within their companies, as well as discussing with current partners, vendors, and startups how they are incorporating it into their product offerings.
“Lastly, I also think about where AI should be helping but isn’t yet. Despite whether it will ultimately replace me or not, I’m spending an awful lot of my intellectual cycles on it currently. What I haven’t done yet, but am interested in trying, is creating my own digital twin.
