What’s Up? JAA Highlights from September

Below is a digest of J Arnold & Associates activities from last month, including my other forms of original content, along with my social media stats. Details and links for most of these activities can be found on my blog, or posted on my website.

Industry events – three for September:
- Verint Engage, Orlando, Sept. 8-10
- Zoomtopia, virtual, Sept. 17
- Sprinklr Analyst Summit, Nashville, Sept. 28-Oct. 1

Podcast/Video segments – these terms seem interchangeable now – podcast and video, but it was another month with more video-based output than with writing:
- BCStrategies – takeaways from Verint’s Engage event, Sept. 22
- Politely Pushy Podcast – interviewed by Eric Chemi from PR agency Bospar about what tech analysts do, and how independent analysts provide value, Sept. 9
- SCTC – interviewed by Robert Cassard about how analysts provide value to the SCTC and its members, Sept. 3

Podcast/Video – recorded, but not yet published:
- BCStrategies – takeaways from Sprinklr’s CXUnifiers event
Writing roundup – based on how the dates fell last month, I have a few pieces ready to go or done, but only one was published during September: it’s the cover story for Contact Center Pipeline, and I was a contributor: Answering the Challenges
New kudo for Watch This Space (fourth one since May):
- Million Podcasts – ranked Watch This Space as a top podcast in three categories – Best Collaboration Podcast, Best Digital Workplace Podcast, and Best Remote Work Podcast, Sept. 19
Awards judging – two updates to share:
- Talkdesk CX Innovators Awards – am back as a judge for the 2025 edition – details coming soon, but am in the process now of evaluating entries – 2024 winners here
- Epica Awards – returning here as a judge as well – Paris-based Epica Awards is outside my normal scope of analyst work, but as a creative person with marketing DNA, I love getting to evaluate international entries from the worlds of media, advertising and social change, many of which make leading-edge use of the technologies I follow every day – more to come as the judging progresses
Other items of note from September:
- Enterprise Connect – for 2026, the show is doing a re-set on its programming and the topics they will be including – my submission was accepted (yes, it’s AI-related), so I will be on the program – details coming soon, including a spotlight piece about my topic
- ICMI – not sure why it’s taken so long, but I’m finally getting involved, and will be more visible in that community going forward – stay tuned
- Book review – long-time industry colleague Mark McIlvane recently wrote a book about what he knows best – sales management- and after giving it a read, I wrote a review, which you can find here on Amazon
Social media highlights – since these stats change every day, they are just a basic snapshot, but they provide a good sense of my industry reach beyond my blog and newsletter. For my business, I use LinkedIn – I’ve stopped using Twitter/X for some time – so, here are my approximate tallies for LinkedIn during September:
- 41,237 views and 33 posts – numbers are a tad higher from August
- September was another strong month, and have tallied 20,000+ views for each of the last eight months – and three of the last four months have topped 40,000 views
- My top LinkedIn post registered 9,047 views - this marks the fourth straight month my top post has garnered 7,500+ views
- Overall, 8 posts had 1,000+ views, and 15 had 500+ views
What’s Coming? JAA Outlook for October

Industry events –
- SCTC Annual Conference, Reno, NV, Oct. 12-14 – updates below
- NiCE 2025 Analyst Summit, Vienna, Austria, Oct. 20-23
SCTC Conference updates:
- Analyst panel – I’ll be speaking along with colleagues Blair Pleasant, and moderator Steve Leaden – Monday at 10am – details here
- Another SIPtones gig - if you’re coming, make sure to be there for the opening reception on Sunday night, where we’ll be playing a dinner set and a dance set - and if you don’t know about my fun side, check us out here and here
- Continuing as an SCTC Board member – my current term is up, but as part of the AGM during the conference, I will elect to continue serving in that role

Webinar:
- With NiCE/Cognigy and Converged Tech Pros – Prescribing Agentic AI: Trusted, Compliant and Personalized Patient Experiences, Oct. 23
Active work to keep watch for:
- White paper for a cloud platform provider – still awaiting publication
- Market research study on AI adoption for a leading cloud provider
- Continued guest posts coming – some with my byline and some without – will post about these as they are published – those with my byline will be shared as they are published
- New projects are in play with several vendors, both current and new clients

Hey, Did You Know?

… change can be a good thing, and it sure keeps things interesting.
My output last month was on the light side, but not for lack of things to do. A stubborn chest cough plus the High Holidays kept me off schedule, but with those in the rear-view mirror, a few new wrinkles are coming. I won’t say much now, but here are some changes to keep watch for as the life of an independent analyst evolves:

Refresh is in the works for my website
I will soon launch my presence on a leading publishing platform, where I plan to expand the mix of formats for creating and sharing thought leadership
Am still open to continuing with Watch This Space in its current format, but may also add other podcast offerings on the publishing platform – inquiries welcome
I’m exploring avenues to syndicate my work, not just to make it discoverable for wider audiences, but also to help protect my thought leadership and original analysis from being appropriated by AI to train LLMs

And if you still don’t know what my work entails, or how I can help any vendor or service provider grow their business and brand, you really should check out the Politely Pushy podcast about me referenced earlier.

For the times, they are a-changin’…