Communication is key in moving ahead, and Arrow ECS is planning on making virtual chatter a big thing for resellers. Launching the site at IBM Lotusphere 2011, Arrow ECS hopes its new “Virtual Bench” social networking site will help resellers help other resellers resell. Cute. Here are the details:

Think of it like Facebook for Arrow ECS partners in North America. As of now, the site is available to Arrow ECS IBM Business Partners, with an eventual expansion to other Arrow ECS supplier lines.

Virtual Bench allows resellers to post profiles of their business and collaborate with other resellers on new sales and projects, or find a reseller or partner with complimentary specialization for other joint solutions. What’s more, partners can search for assistance request from other resellers. But all work and no play can make partners weary, so Arrow ECS is promoting ‘targeted social communities’ where partners can chat about their insights while informing each other about channel developments.

Savvy resellers can subscribe to the Virtual Bench RSS feed for up-to-the minute updates on posts of interest.

The big question is whether resellers and partners will want to collaborate on Virtual Bench. Sales and technical staff from Arrow ECS will be involved in community discussion for support, but do partners really have the time or energy to be collaborating on a new platform? If they do, would they use their own established sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook?

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