The CIO's Cloud Conundrum Date:   Wednesday , October 08, 2014 Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) is a leading manufacturer of networking equipment providing an innovative thinking, partnership and commitment that enable the world\'s best networks. Founded in 1996, the U.S. headquartered company has a current market cap of $10.49 billion. While CIOs are, of course, technology leaders, CIOs are also\'first and foremost\'business leaders. As a result, they must look at technology trends not for just what they bring to IT, but for how they enable the business. Today, every CIO knows cloud has made the transition from tech \'buzz word\' to a critical business enabler. CIOs are no longer being asked to explain what a cloud is. Nor are they being asked if they should move their business to the cloud. Today\'s CIO\'s are instead are instead being asked to provide the details of when and how they will make the move. Cloud is no longer optional. With everything going mobile, with social redefining how we communicate, with data stores exploding, and with the rise of big-data analytics, cloud is the key enabler. Businesses are using cloud to enable collaboration and speed innovation. They are looking to the cloud as they develop and deliver apps to reach their customers. They are relying on the cloud as they store, manage, and analyze huge volumes of data to identify opportunities to target their customers in more effective ways or optimize their operations. While the benefits are clear, actually moving to the cloud can be a real conundrum. But it is doable. Sometime in late 2010, Juniper reviewed its application portfolio and decided to move as much as possible to the cloud within a three-year time horizon. The first phase was a move to SalesForce.com. This was a very successful, important step and a win. But a move, like the one to Salesforce, was only the first step in our journey. In 2012, having achieved a couple of successful migrations to cloud, we evolved our thinking. The traditional way of thinking about moving to the cloud has been to ask \"why would we go to the cloud?\" At Juniper, the bias of the question was turned on its head when instead the question became: \"why would we not go to the cloud?\" With that simple eureka moment, where it made sense, we started to ask ourselves the game-changing question: \"why not cloud?\' The \"why not cloud?\" approach requires systematic thinking about moving to the cloud. It is necessary to ask questions such as: Is it cost effective? I s it secure? Are the benefits significant and worth the investment? Is there a cloud provider? Is the provider a great partner, with a solid vision? After going through these filters, it is possible to determine if something should remain in a standard on-premises model, or if it should be moved to the cloud. Taking a \"why not cloud?\" strategy does not mean everything will or must go to the cloud. It does not swap a series of moves with a mass exodus to the cloud. Rather, it is a statement of strategic intent. There may be applications (like critical R & D apps) that may never move to the cloud. But using the \"why not cloud?\" strategy enables a more disciplined way of approaching the assessment and speeds up the decision-making process. The \"why not cloud?\" approach delivered significant wins for Juniper. Total cost of ownership was lowered by around 30 percent. Efficiencies were improved and operations streamlined. A standard best-of-breed approach could have grown into hundreds of little clouds. Instead, big chunks of apps were included within a single platform, and the result was fewer systems to manage (and this also made the bits around the edge simpler). The \"why not cloud?\" strategy delivered exactly what every CEO and CFO wants to hear-the IT organization became a \'rainmaker\' for the company, delivering significant cost savings. And IT repositioned its seat at the table because of its ability to get rain from the cloud. But just as important, the \"why not cloud?\" approach enabled a transformational shift for the IT organization. As a result of the move to the cloud, the Juniper IT team moved from being the \'break/fix\' team, to being more strategic. Time was freed up so the team could start working on R&D projects and go after \'big sky/solve for x\' projects. The rate and significance in innovation has increased dramatically as a result - and team members are excited about the new direction. Previously, about 90 percent of IT resources were spent on day-to-day IT activities. Now, with the benefits being realized from the \"why not cloud?\" strategy, only about 40 percent of resources are spent on day-to-day activities. The remaining 60 percent? They are now focused on projects and transformational efforts. Every CIO should be expected to have a cloud strategy that clearly lays out what can and should be migrated to the cloud, and what cannot and should not be. Taking a \"why not cloud?\" approach is a great way to build out this strategy. Cloud enables a CIO be a rainmaker, delivering operational excellence and improvements - the standard bailiwicks of a CIO. But, what\'s more exciting, cloud enables a CIO to expand into a more strategic role, driving business innovation.