John Rinello on automation
From How to Rewrite the Future and Win With Agentic AI | Live from Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference · · Gartner
“This technology works 24/7. It's not going to quit for more compensation, and it's going to do literally whatever you ask it to do.”
On , John Rinello, Senior Vice President of Global Business Sales at Gartner, spoke about automation during How to Rewrite the Future and Win With Agentic AI | Live from Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference on Gartner.
About John Rinello
John Rinello, Senior Vice President of Global Business Sales at Gartner, has spoken at the company's CSO & Sales Leader Conference in 2023 and 2025. In his 2025 opening keynote, Rinello discussed the potential of agentic AI in sales, describing it as "goal-driven software" that can make decisions and take actions. He cited Accenture as an example of a company using such technology, stating that proposals that once took eight hours to create now take four to finalize. Rinello also noted that only one out of four sales leaders feel accountable to AI initiatives and said he sees the next one to two years as a window to gain a competitive advantage with the technology. In 2023, Rinello co-presented a keynote with other Gartner analysts, highlighting that 75% of B2B buyers would prefer to make a purchase without engaging with a sales rep, and that there is no statistically significant relationship between the time sellers spend with customers and their performance. He advocated for treating technology as a "teammate" rather than a tool. Separately, a former Gartner employee, Elias Khnaser, posted videos in 2022 explaining his departure from the company after seven years. Khnaser described Gartner as "the best company that I've ever worked for" and said he left to start a YouTube channel and create different types of content. In a one-year update, he stated he did not regret leaving and was working on a cloud strategy book and online training courses.