I was so swamped with 18+ hour days this week at the ARC Industry Forum that I had no time (or energy) to write anything. I have enough good information for the next week, though.

I sat down for my 25-minutes with a marketing executive from an unnamed company this week during my marathon briefings.

This person asked about my publishing something here. I said, well, it’s simple. You call me with something good and useful (my decision). If I think it’s something that my readers will appreciate knowing about–whether it’s a product or service or thought about tech or business trend–I will write it, put my analysis on it, and hit “publish.”

The person asked, “You mean I don’t have to pay for it?”

Well, no. I don’t know where the idea came from, but not from me 😉

The company could always become a sponsor. As you can tell from the page, Inductive Automation continues to sponsor me (for which I’m grateful, but from whom I publish the good stuff). I’ll always welcome sponsorship from a reputable, ethical company. But that is definitely not a requirement to get something on the site.

As the industry’s independent blogger/thinker/analyzer, I provide the writing for free. I derive income partly from sponsorships and mostly from project work–custom research and analysis, consulting, coaching. If you want someone who knows the technology as well as business, leadership, and coaching, then call.

Speaking of the Forum. This year’s attendance came in slightly fewer than the year before. But numbers were good and buzz and enthusiasm remained high. Someone remarked that after the years of industry consolidation when there just was not much happening now small companies have arrived to bring some new ideas and enthusiasm.

Mostly we talked about solving problems, business value, and software. Cybersecurity remains a hot topic. Open–as in the Open Process Automation Forum and also open source software–shared in the spotlight.

Once again, although this is sort of an ARC Advisory Group user conference, it is one of the few times you can gather with a wide cross-section of industry leaders. That in itself makes it worthwhile–although there are a ton of sessions to attend, as well.

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