Any seasoned Westbury-spotters amongst you will have noticed somewhat of a trend in the last 6 – 12 months: namely that we have bought into video in a big way. Obviously it helps that we have such a well-spoken, charismatic and – let’s face it – beautiful public face in one Thomas Danforth St. John Dowler, Esq, but there’s a little more to it than just my face.

For all that Twitter, Facebook or even Pandora and Lala could be considered the poster-children for web 2.0 (are we even still on v2.0 or have we moved to 3.0? Does any patching happen? Will we ever see web 2.31.4.567?) the real internet revelations of 2009 have been sites like hulu – which has brought a huge amount of TV content to the web in a way that is legal, good for the networks and satisfying for viewers – and sites like viddler, vimeo, et al which have begun to challenge youtube for control of the corporate video hosting sector.

Video is vital, and more and more companies are discovering the benefits of visual presentation. Since November of 2008 we have launched a raft of product demo videos for SMI Suite and Change Calendar, along with a 60-second “commercial” for SMI Suite. Coming soon will be more product demo videos, an explanation of the architecture of Service Manager and a piece on using Business Objects Live Office.

The rationale is simple enough. If we tell you that SMI Suite is awesome, we expect that you’ll take that assertion with a pinch of salt. If we show you it being awesome, well… maybe you’ll start to believe us.

Ultimately this is a case of us finally taking a dose of our own medicine. We’ve been prattling on for years about important reporting is because it allows you to show what’s really happening in your IT department, demonstrate IT’s value to the business, etc. We’ve decided to take a leaf out of our own book and so now we’re showing you how cool our product is.

There are going to be lots of cool new videos coming soon – we’ve built a brand-new, state of the art studio and we’re chomping at the bit to show it off, so stay tuned.

Oh, and if my choice of title for this entry has inspired a sudden urge to listen to The Buggles, here’s a really cool video…

Tom