Kristie Grinnell on Building an Agentic AI Factory at TD SYNNEX | CAIO Connect Podcast
Explore how TD SYNNEX CIO Kristie Grinnell is revolutionising enterprise AI through her vision of an “agentic AI factory” and “bot ...
Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Td Synnex
Search every verified Kristie Grinnell interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Kristie Grinnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at TD SYNNEX, has discussed the company’s development of an “agentic AI factory” and a “bot factory,” describing these as systems where AI agents can be created to communicate with one another and improve efficiency. In a podcast appearance, she said the company aims to help customers understand different types of AI technologies and their associated risks, adding that TD SYNNEX intends to use AI responsibly. She compared managing an AI agent to managing an employee, noting that agents require “cyber checks” and performance monitoring to ensure they are not hallucinating. Grinnell stated that the company’s CEO sees the future of distribution as digital and that the company is using automation, AI, and data to avoid scaling headcount at the same rate as the business. She advocated for investing in an AI lab to test innovations securely before moving to production. In earlier appearances, Grinnell discussed workplace technology and hybrid work. She said that during the pandemic, DXC Technologies (her former employer) rolled out a standard catalog for home-office equipment and noted that global laws in places like Europe require employers to provide ergonomic equipment for remote workers. She described the challenge of balancing employee requests for support with the need to run a business. Grinnell also spoke about shifting office spaces to “community centers” designed for collaboration, connection, coaching, and celebration, rather than rows of desks. She emphasized the importance of setting clear expectations for camera use in hybrid meetings and of educating employees and clients about hybrid etiquette.
“We put AI out there and we talk about agentic AI and generative AI, but not everybody understands exactly what that means, so we want to help them understand what these different types of technologies are and how they can use them. We also have to help them understand some of the risks associated with it because that's...”
“How you manage an employee and how you manage an agent — just think about when you bring somebody on, you do a background check. Well, with an agent, you have to do some of the same cyber checks and make sure that it's safe to use.”
“The idea is that we want an agentic AI factory — this is the factory you should use where you create agents so they can talk to one another and become more efficient together as we grow.”
“Our CEO is very forward‑thinking and he sees the future of distribution is digital — that's our promise to the street — digitalizing interactions with customers and vendors and using automation, AI and data so we don't have to scale headcount at the same rate as the business.”
“I want to use things like automation and agentic AI and data in order to help me drive a better IT business as we grow — I don't want to have to grow and scale at the same rate from a people and technology perspective.”
“We need to invest in an AI lab that's going to make sure we are testing and innovating in a secure way so we can prove business outcomes in the lab before going to production in the agentic AI factory — it might cost us this much, but we think it's going to prove this much in revenue or efficiency.”
“When you onboard an agent you have to give it a focused task and manage its performance just like an employee — is it delivering the outcomes we need, or is it hallucinating?”
“Embrace it — don't block AI, because the company that blocks it is going to be left behind.”
“AI and RPA — one of the things your employees immediately go to is 'I'm going to lose my job, you're going to automate my job away' — and that's not the point.”
“The point is: let's take the mundane, the tedious, the routine tasks off your plate so you can turn and do the more value-add and you can do more of it.”
“If we are able to have that conversation with our employees about why it's good to automate — because that helps us grow, it helps us focus more on our customers, it helps us do the right thing — then you're able to start to get them excited about it.”
“Then you're able to start to get them to go, 'I know what you can automate — do this,' because I go click click click every time; 'please take that off my plate, because it takes me forever to do that 500 times a day.'”
“What if we could use data to help us make this decision rather than me having to figure it out every time? How do you use those technologies plus the human in order to deliver better service for your customers rather than how do you replace the human?”
“I'm calling them owl cameras in the room where it switches to everybody in the room and it rotates with where you're going, but people are back to saying 'I don't want the stupid camera in my face every time I'm talking' because they get super self-conscious when it lands on them — wondering if their hair looks okay or...”
“As a culture we really have to get used to setting the tone for tending to people that are at home, tending to the people that are in the office and setting a new expectation — not going back to that old expectation of what it was.”
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