Everywhere I look, some high-tech vendor is engineering the design of a private social network especially for its channel partners.

While the overwhelming adoption of networks like LinkedIn or Facebook is doubtless the reason for this enthusiasm, there still really is very little much information about how businesses are using social networks for classic business-to-business interactions.

I should disclose that I’ve been thinking about this in the context of some work I’ve been doing for the worldwide channels group at Cisco Systems. But the move by IBM to establish its own social network with PartnerWorld Communities AND the impending launch of a similar mechanism by Microsoft have got me thinking a lot about this particular issue. This whole conversation reminds me of the huge push behind partner portals a few years back, as high-tech vendors (rightly so) looked at ways of improving communications to and with their channel partners. I ask anyone reading this: How fruitful were those investments?

While I am a huge fan of social networks and other social media applications, such as the micro-blogging service Twitter, I hope these vendors have the patience and persistence to make these investments in closed channel communities worthwhile. Here’s some context for my concern.

1. A recent study by Forrester Research (“The Social Technographics of Business Buyers,” Feb. 20, 2009) shows the use of blogs, social networks and other so-called social technology decreases “on the job.” So, for now, participation in closed channel social networks is likely to be limited. The survey base included 1,217 people in IT buying and recommendation roles across North America and Europe.
2. As to who actually uses social networks, penetration in the United States is about 35 percent. It’s lower in Europe and higher in some Asia Pacific countries, such as Korea, according to some separate data from Forrester Research.
3. Here’s the clincher for me though: Right now, Forrester Research reveals that 42 percent of U.S. online adults juggle at least two social network identities; and 63 percent also participate in some sort of discussion forum.

I don’t know about you, but considering the time that social networking takes, something has got to give and I’m betting it’s not the Facebook account. The vendors who are building these networks need to remember the following:

1. It takes MONTHS for a following to develop, which means you need to appoint credible subject matter experts who will spend months nurturing the network with great content and helping guide conversations.
2. Anecdotally speaking, many VARs and IT solution providers tell me they’re not all that eager to share marketing or sales tips that could help their competitors. There, I’ve said it. HOWEVER, interestingly enough, systems engineers and support personnel have little problem sharing tidbits that can help make everyone’s job a little easier.
3. Mobility is a big deal. When you’re out at client sites or prospective client sites selling for most of the day, you’re less likely to spend time catching up on social network conversations.
4. VARs and resellers have more than one vendor vying for their time online. Why is your social network the most relevant one for them? Is it because you help them market or sell the entire solution rather than a point product?

Here’s how I think closed social business networks could be VERY useful for a high-tech company hoping to forge closer ties to its channel partners:

• They could be used to create a way for your channel account managers and field teams to interact more seamlessly with partners in their geography. Why limit the “closed” network to your partners? In fact you shouldn’t. This might be a great way for them to be more in touch with teams across your company, to stay in closer step with deals that are in the works or be alerted about local activity that might be of mutual interest.
• Systems engineers could contribute real-world insight into real-world problems. In some cases, social business networks are already being used as a collaboration tool for product development. As a real example, I’ll point you to the case of Chordiant Software, which uses a platform from Jive.
• Success stories (and therefore best practices information) can be shared by your channel marketing team, especially in the form of video. In the brief experiments I’ve done with some of SWOT’s clients, I’ve found that the right video (in the form of a partner testimonial) usually gets more attention than written version of same.
• By adding the right information widgets in the form of RSS feeds, you can all stay on top of competitive threats or developments.

With certainty, I can say that every high-tech vendor SHOULD be evaluating a social networking or broader social media strategy. But I definitely wouldn’t advise them all to build their own platform. Your team might be better served applying some of the concepts I’ve mentioned above to a group on LinkedIn. Personally, I believe Facebook will have a hard time overcoming its roots as something focused on personal connections. I refrain from adding professional contacts there myself, unless I’ve met them at a conference or they’ve been good enough to read stuff that I write (like this!)

If you want to chat more about social networks and B2B social media strategy, I welcome your outreach. I can be reached at this e-mail, or you can find me on both Facebook and LinkedIn.

After months of writing about practical applications for Web 2.0 technologies and services, I have to admit, I really hate the term because it’s one thing that’s really keeping IT solution providers from exploiting its benefits.

Why not, instead, talk about the essential business processes that things like social networks and blogs really enable? That, to me, is the best way to help VARs and resellers recognize and consider the potential business benefits that these concepts can provide.

Given that smaller VARs are notoriously slow to adopt the very same technology they represent, how do I know your own channel will respond to this mindset? Well, it certainly resonated with the VARs and resellers that attended the two panels about Web 2.0 that I was hired to handle during the Ingram Micro VentureTech Invitational earlier this month. I was asked to handle two workshop sessions there: A presentation that discussed potential practical sales and marketing applications for social networks and blogs, and a panel that explored how some VentureTech members are actually using Web sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn at their companies.

While it’s hard to take notes while you’re presenting, here are a few things that stuck with me. Broadly speaking, they all have something to do with the following concepts: Collaboration, Community and Conversation. You’ll get what I mean in a moment.

1) Social networks will reshape tech recruiting. All of the VARs on my Invitational panel (Heartland Technology Solutions, i-Tech Support and The Lloyd Group) are using social networks to find and vett job candidates. They trust the referrals that they’re getting out of these communities. What’s more, they can do a little discreet research to assess whether or not a potential hire will fit in with their company culture.

2) If you want to really engage with anyone under the age of 30, you need to get savvy about social networks. There have been a few research reports out in the past month that point to the obvious. Forrester Research just released a report that reveals only 10 percent of adults from the age of 18 to 24 DO NOT participate in social networks or blogs. If you want to market to the next generation, you need to consider how to use social networks. Well, this applies in business, too. Want feedback on a new strategy or product? Don’t expect a meeting to uncover everything. Start a wiki or use a more formal collaboration tool like SharePoint to facilitate an online dialogue. Heartland encourages this, primarily among its technical types.

3) Let your employees help create your culture on social networks. Set guidelines, but don’t dictate. In a move that you could definitely call experimental, The Lloyd Group has created several subgroups for its company within Facebook, including one for former employees. Adam Eiseman, the CEO, says this helps his staff feel more connected at a personal level, building more empathy for each person’s individual role and contributions to the company.

4) Blogs could be a great way for VARs to establish their identity. i-Tech Support is one of several VARs that I know who have set up blogs to represent its point of view on topics of the day. i-Tech’s Richard Vaughn, who has championed this effort, says the hardest thing has been to keep up with the updates (you need to update it now, Richard!). But the blog has had the effect of bringing new prospects to his company via search engines. This other link shows you what one VAR peer group is doing with blogging.

What can vendors and distributors do to support these sorts of activities?

Some, such as Ingram, have set up gated communities such as The Zone, which is essentially an online extension of the Invitational events, meant to perpetuate face-to-face conversations that start at its events. Others are facilitating collaboration activities. An example is Partner Exchange, launched in April by Cisco and intended to help solution providers looking for potential business partners from among their peers.

One area where I think immediate adjustments should be made relates to the sorts of marketing activities your company might consider funding.

If you haven’t begun supporting proposals that include non-traditional components related to Web 2.0, maybe it’s time to start doing so. From your standpoint, you may be able to measure the return on your investment. Better yet, why not proactively encourage your partners to get on board, especially as it relates to two areas: supporting better internal collaboration through various Web 2.0 applications and facilitating more effective marketing dialogues and demand generation activities through both blogs and social networks. I’m still thinking this on through, myself.

Got any thoughts to share? Comment on this blog and get the conversation started. You can also visit me on FaceBook or LinkedIn, or email me directly at hclancy@swotmg.com.

First, let me say that I never ever have been a channel manager nor have I ever tried to sell technology solutions to put food on my table. But I have interviewed scads of smart people from all parts of the high-tech channel and feel beholden to share what I have learned and heard.

I get the sense that one of the most controversial topics you can introduce to a channel account manager OR a solution provider business manager is the concept of joint business planning. Some people associate it with all sorts of paperwork, which then lives in a document somewhere gathering cyber-cobwebs, while others give it almost too much weight, expecting a one-time session to solve underlying process issues or disconnects. I prefer to think of it, instead, as the underlying dialogue informing a healthy relationship between a VAR and one of its strategic suppliers.

I wouldn’t dream of telling you what the best business plan format is for you and your channel partners. Because, after all, this is something that needs to be pertinent to YOUR and THEIR business. But SWOT Management Group believes that there are four fundamental principles underlying any successful joint business planning process. These are.

• VISION
• COLLABORATION
• TRUST
• RESULTS

A moment on each of these concepts.

VISION is, in effect, your guidance system for the partnership. There are two big things you need to focus on here, Disclosure and Buy-in. In the disclosure process, you need to discuss joint expectations, the investments required on both sides (in terms of people and hard costs) as well as the way “success” will be measured. During this phase, you should insist on a formal planning session, one that includes key executives from both the partner and the vendor’s management team. Without that buy-in, the plan could be doomed at the field execution phase.

COLLABORATION refers to your ability to create an information-sharing culture, in which knowledge is shared transparently between the partner and the vendor’s field team. A communications breakdown could impede progress. To make this thing work, you have to think like one big team. Way harder than it sounds, I know.

Successful collaboration leads to TRUST, which in turn leads to better collaboration. Chicken-and-egg style. According to an article published in the Harvard Business Review, those resellers that had a high degree of trust in their manufacturer partners contributed 78 percent more sales than those who had a lower level of trust. The trust factor correlates directly with financial performance, effectiveness of field execution and resource allocation.

RESULTS could come in a number of different forms, only you can set the agenda there. But a good business plan could do any or all of the following: Drive your sales scale, improve your field execution or grow your revenue.

None of this is stuff you don’t already know. But since many of you just started a new fiscal year, it might be a good time to revisit these simple ideas. Any thoughts?