Navigating Change: Lessons from our CEO | Juniper Global Summit 2022

0:00 [Music]

0:05 Welcome to the Global Summit.

0:07 I'm Manoj Leelanivas, Chief Operating Officer, Juniper Networks.

0:11 Joining me today is the Chief Executive Officer of Juniper Networks, Rami Rahim.

0:16 I'm delighted to have you join us here today.

0:18 Thank you, Manoj, I am delighted to be here.

0:21 Let me start with you, Rami.

0:23 I think you graduated from Stanford about 25-something years ago,

0:27 and you've been associated with networking throughout.

0:30 How has networking evolved from the 90's to today?

0:34 It's a great question, and you know what, I'm going to fill you in on a little secret.

0:38 It's true my entire career has been in networking with the exception of one year prior to Stanford

0:43 where I pursued another passion of mine, computer graphics,

0:46 but that's for another meeting like this.

0:49 I didn't know that.

0:50 Let's talk about the evolution of networking.

0:54 When I first joined Juniper, I think it was all about this convergence

0:59 of a single network protocol that would essentially be the communication

1:02 over the global internet that essentially Juniper bet its existence on.

1:07 Had it been something other than TCPIP, we would not be having this interview.

1:11 The next phase was around Silicon technology,

1:14 and I think this is a phase that Juniper not only participated in,

1:17 but we led with really innovative Silicon technology

1:21 that we continue to pursue and innovate in.

1:24 The current phase, I believe, is around software, and not just any software,

1:29 but software that is cloud-delivered, that's AI-driven,

1:32 that truly transforms the experience of those that are operating networks day in, day out,

1:38 by making their lives much easier, but it also transforms the experience of those

1:44 that are using the network to do practically anything today.

1:48 I think that's what the current phase or current era of networking is all about

1:52 that we obviously are really excited about

1:55 because it gives us an opportunity to show the world what we're capable of.

1:59 That's great. I'm glad you touched software because I remember about a decade ago,

2:04 Mark Hendrickson had this famous op-ed in Wall Street Journal

2:07 about software leading the world, and now AI is leading software.

2:12 How has networking industry embraced this AI evolution,

2:16 and now that data is becoming the overall currency for everything?

2:20 You're touching on a really important topic.

2:24 If you're going to talk about AI, you have to start by talking about data.

2:29 I've said now a few times that data is the most precious resource in the world today.

2:37 We, as a planet are accumulating data at an unprecedented rate.

2:42 Something like % of all the data in the world today

2:46 has been accumulated in just the last two years alone.

2:50 The question now is of course, what do you do with all this data?

2:53 What do you do with this incredible resource?

2:56 Especially for our industry, we, I'm talking collectively,

3:00 we as an industry are sitting on a gold mine of information, and yet it is untapped.

3:06 I think the answer to that question lies in artificial intelligence.

3:09 There is no way that any human can tap into that data and do anything useful with it on their own.

3:16 It has to be left to machines and artificial intelligence.

3:19 The goal for machines, of course, is to learn from this data,

3:23 data that's at the granularity of users and experience and applications,

3:28 and then do something really interesting with this data,

3:32 and I think some of the most interesting things to do are real value-generating outcomes,

3:37 like accelerate the time to deployment of new services,

3:42 understand when issues occur in the network and fix them

3:44 before anybody even has a chance to understand that there has been a problem in the network.

3:50 Heck, reduce problems altogether, and our AI-driven enterprise approach,

3:56 in fact, our AI-driven networking approach is all about doing all of the above.

4:01 Yes, there's been growth in the last couple of decades across the entire tech industry

4:06 and also networking and there's a lot of change,

4:10 and the pace of change has also changed in many ways, right?

4:14 Yes. When you have this rapid pace,

4:16 how do you get everyone to swim in the same direction,

4:20 row in the same direction in the industry, as well as Juniper, how do you do that?

4:25 It's a great question.

4:26 In fact, you could probably answer it better than I can since you are the one

4:30 that's always pushing for that change that we need so much.

4:35 It's true, I think any tech company needs to evolve,

4:40 needs to change in order to survive because our landscape,

4:44 our environment, it's constantly changing.

4:47 You know better than anybody else because you've been on this transformation journey with me,

4:51 that Juniper has been not only on a transformation journey,

4:54 I'd say it's a reinvention journey, right?

4:58 People know us as the company that build carrier-class, highly reliable,

5:03 mission-critical networks, and we continue to do that,

5:06 but if you're going to pivot to this world of software and AI-driven and experience,

5:11 you do need to change, and you and I together have been embarking on this.

5:15 We put in place a strategy, then we communicated that strategy to everybody that would listen;

5:23 investors, our own employees, our customers, our partners, right?

5:29 With change, you have to get buy-in,

5:31 and overly communicating is really important.

5:35 Then we went and we executed, right?

5:37 We transformed, we put the right organizational structure in place.

5:40 We transformed our goods and market to be able to tap into the broad market opportunity.

5:45 We have been more acquisitive over the last few years because we knew that some of the innovation

5:51 that we needed was outside of our own skillset, out of our own capability,

5:56 and so we have been more acquisitive than normal

5:58 over the last few years to bring in the talent and the technology.

6:02 We've implemented companywide objectives to ensure

6:06 that we're executing and executing rapidly on this new and exciting vision.

6:12 All in all, yes, change is hard,

6:15 especially for humans that like consistency and more of the same,

6:20 but I think we've done a tremendous job

6:23 in demonstrating the power of that change and that reinvention to Juniper.

6:26 You can see it in our incredible results that we're posting quarter after quarter these days.

6:31 Well said, Rami.

6:32 I think the true transformation is on its way.

6:35 I'm going to touch on a topic related to this, but probably more closer to your heart.

6:41 All this change is great,

6:42 but I think there is also an evolution in terms of the workforce, right?

6:45 The demographic is changing now, the Millennials and the Next Gen Zs are coming to the workforce,

6:51 so things are different from what it used to be.

6:53 I mean like ,years ago, organizations were run in a command-and-control fashion.

6:58 Now you've got to get buy-in in different ways, more interdependent culture.

7:02 There is much more of a mission orientation.

7:05 How do you attract and retain talent?

7:07 This is not just for Juniper, I'm sure all of our customers are going through the same challenge,

7:12 right, in terms of keeping their networking and security professional excited and engaged,

7:17 and attracting the next set of talent, so what is your point of view on this?

7:21 It is absolutely a top-of-mind issue for me, for all of us at Juniper.

7:28 We want to make sure that we're able to attract and retain the best talent to allow us

7:33 to fuel the growth that we're seeing in our business,

7:36 and I'm sure the supplies, as you said,

7:38 to everybody that's in the industry, everybody that's watching this.

7:42 I think there are some basic things around having a really great culture, good people,

7:47 giving employees, new hires, the opportunity to learn, to grow their careers.

7:54 All of this is a basics, but I also believe strongly that the kind of talent that we want,

8:02 we as an industry here, is talent that believes in a mission, in a purpose,

8:07 in a calling that's greater than ourselves, and if you think about this industry,

8:12 not just Juniper, this industry and what we do, it's really important.

8:18 If you think about the last couple of years of this pandemic,

8:21 where we needed the network to do practically anything;

8:27 to work, to educate our children, to do commerce, to shop,

8:31 to get healthcare, I shudder to think of a situation

8:38 that we've had to deal with during the pandemic,

8:41 without the technology, the products, and the solutions that this industry's responsible for.

8:46 I've always felt this strong sense of responsibility for the work that we do,

8:50 but I've never felt it more than how I felt over the last couple of years.

8:55 I think this mission is incredibly motivating for me.

8:59 I also think it can be incredibly motivating for many of those that are considering now

9:05 where to build their careers, and that's, I think articulating that and always reminding people

9:11 and providing people with that context is probably the right thing to do.

9:16 Bringing back to today a little bit, you mentioned the pandemic, coming out of the pandemic,

9:22 but then now there's a Russian invasion going on, there is inflation, which is going rampant,

9:30 and there is always the specter of the recession behind you.

9:34 It's a very different time, we are getting into a little bit of the unknown world.

9:38 Juniper has done extremely well.

9:39 Our customers are super excited with our solutions, but in these unknown times,

9:44 how do you make sure that our approach to the company

9:48 as well as the industry is as received as possible?

9:51 What are the things you think about to do?

9:53 It's really important that you're always trying to look as far ahead as possible,

10:00 around corners to the extent it's possible, and to get as much of an understanding

10:06 as you possibly can about big inflection points,

10:10 risks that are happening in the industry so that you can react to them quickly enough.

10:15 So obviously, we have our CTO, Raj, that's always trying to think three to five years

10:19 from a technology standpoint and making sure that

10:22 we're equipped to not only navigate around these inflections but to capitalize on them,

10:27 to leverage them, to take share.

10:30 This is really important but nobody has a crystal ball,

10:34 and especially in a dynamic world such as the one you've described that we live in today,

10:38 I think it's really important to build a resilient company.

10:42 We've all always believed at Juniper that resilience comes with diversity in our business.

10:48 You know this, Manoj, for the first time ever in Juniper's history, Q,

10:53 Enterprise became our largest segment.

10:57 This is in no way saying that the other segments of SP and Cloud are not important or are not well.

11:03 They're actually performing exceptionally well but think about that breadth

11:07 that we have built in our business with the diversity

11:10 across each of our strategic vertical market segments and strategic solutions.

11:15 That to me is an important part of how you build a resilient company that can withstand challenges

11:22 that might impact us in a particular segment or another.

11:27 This is all part of this transformation and reinvention I just talked about

11:31 and one of the most important outcomes of that reinvention has been that resiliency.

11:36 Last year, Juniper had a good growth year.

11:39 This year, we're going to post even more growth, that's what we predicted to the street.

11:43 It's a great time.

11:44 There's a certain swagger, a confidence in Juniper, and customers can see that too.

11:49 So what's new and exciting in store for our customers?

11:53 I could talk about all these cool things that are happening in our industry, Web, cryptocurrency,

11:58 the metaverse, all these cool things.

12:02 I think all of these are exciting things, but there's a lot of uncertainty.

12:06 I'm excited about the fact that this is in an industry

12:09 that has now gone from just talking about

12:12 and power pointing the promise of experience first networking

12:19 through software and automation into actual deployments,

12:24 real-life examples of where software has truly crushed the number of trouble tickets,

12:32 crushed the poor experience that people have come to expect of their enterprise WiFi

12:38 and the wired networking experience.

12:42 That to me is the most exciting thing and that's not done yet.

12:46 We're like just scratching the surface of what is possible.

12:49 The explosive growth that we're seeing in our business right now, in fact,

12:53 is just the beginning of what's possible.

12:56 I truly believe that just as there is this need today for a self-driving automobile,

13:03 the future is around a self-driving network where humans literally have to do nothing.

13:09 The network essentially gets out of the way

13:10 and we can focus on what is important which is driving our business forward,

13:15 advancing our business strategies, innovating, and keeping the disrupters out of our space.

13:21 Heck, disrupting ourselves.

13:23 That's what's really exciting for me, Manoj, but you know what, Manoj,

13:27 I think you can answer this question even better than I can,

13:29 so why don't you share your thoughts about what's exciting and what's ahead?

13:32 You're putting me on the spot there, Rami.

13:35 First of all, I think I'm super excited of the mission of the company.

13:38 The last three years of navigating this complex pandemic wouldn't have been possible

13:42 without a mission like what we have in the company to connect everything, empower everyone.

13:47 The fact that we could contact trace anybody,

13:51 the fact that flawlessly education continued on as before,

13:56 we could order food from anywhere, all of us overnight became part of digital transformation.

14:02 Everybody started working from home and it just almost flawlessly worked.

14:06 years ago when there was a pandemic,

14:07 the world stood still, and this time the world did not.

14:11 I think that's very powerful personally for me.

14:13 Looking forward to the future for us and our customers together,

14:16 I think there is we got a great accolade from Gartner.

14:20 We are the Leader in the Magic Quadrant of Wired & Wireless.

14:24 To me, that is just a start.

14:25 There's an opportunity to make things easy for our customers,

14:28 our enterprise customers in terms of WiFi, SD-WAN,

14:33 everything, all AI-driven, and things just works.

14:36 Imagine the beauty when there are no more of the swivel chairs

14:40 where people are looking at the different dashboards, things just work.

14:42 I think that's exciting for me.

14:44 Similarly, if I look at the data center,

14:46 gone are the days of the vertically integrated data center networking stacks.

14:50 The ability to have a multi-vendor solution

14:52 where everything is orchestrated and automated flawlessly,

14:55 that's what the App Store brings to the table.

14:57 That's exciting.

14:57 I want customers to really, really embrace that and see the benefits of that.

15:02 Look at our cloud business.

15:03 I'm super excited about it.

15:04 Once upon a time, you were talking about our strong routing business in the cloud.

15:08 Now, two data center mega wins in the top in the last nine months.

15:15 That's exciting.

15:16 We are working with our cloud customers,

15:17 making their customers and networks more secure and capable.

15:22 Last but not the least, when you look at service providers,

15:25 we have held our own in the core and edge of service provider networks

15:28 for a long, long period of time.

15:30 Great solutions.

15:31 Now we're extending that same Junos, the same capabilities to the Metro,

15:35 as well as providing an automation solution.

15:38 Again, true to what you said about experience first,

15:40 everything is going to be control point driven.

15:43 This powerful thing is going to do amazing things for our customers and of course,

15:46 it's going to benefit Juniper too which is great here.

15:51 Yesterday, we talked about today, we even talked about tomorrow,

15:55 but let's just talk about the day after tomorrow a little bit.

15:57 How about that?

15:58 Is there a moment for networking where networking will cease to be complex?

16:02 Networking will be absolutely simple, so much like air, so much like oxygen.

16:07 Is that future in the next five years, years, what's your crystal ball telling you?

16:12 I think it's in five years.

16:15 It's probably weird for people to hear the CEO of a networking company

16:20 say that he wishes that the network would come out, and go out of the way,

16:24 but that's exactly what we should be wishing for,

16:27 that network literally gets out of the way of what we need to do to drive our business

16:33 and our strategy forward, and I think we're well on our way to making a better reality.

16:37 Thank you for joining us today, Rami.

16:39 Thanks, Manoj. It is my pleasure and I honestly could not be more excited about the future.