Brief Summary about Hoffmann & Reif´s Services

Hoffmann & Reif is a partnership of international experts in the field of change management, human capacity development and the design of instructional media. With a long track record in Information & Communication Technology (ICT) based knowledge building projects in Europe, Africa and Asia, Hoffmann & Reif offers full service solutions for the deployment of informated work processes and learning services. The specific competencies of the partners and their partnerships´ network allow to manage successfully projects for knowledge building, product and service development along entire value chains.

Hoffmann & Reif´s main consulting services are:

1. Strategic consulting of South-South and South-North knowledge networks for marketing Internet based services to their region as well as to the developed markets of the North;
2. Consultancy on change management through standardized and efficient work processes for the production and distribution of content - either in eLearning or in collaborative work environments;
3. Deployment of open-source based Internet applications specifically for improving project management processes and for decreasing costs of software development projects;
4. Organizational performance assessment and evaluation of training outcome through adapted methodologies and tools.

Sebastian Hoffmann and Leopold Reif have been involved in various flagship projects for the advancement of an eEurope since 1988. Since 1996 both have been helping to bridge the digital divide in emerging markets. This includes the deployment of enabling applications and services as well as training and capacity building in African and Asian countries face-to-face and on the Internet. Due to the multidisciplinary requirements of most of these endeavours, a multi-facetted and solid network of experts and institutions has been established. Years of international cooperation in heterogeneous environments such as advanced marketplaces and emerging economies have created not only competencies but also a network of expertise and trust.

Hoffmann & Reif focuses on knowledge building and enabling projects in the South and the North. We provide an Open Source based Knowledge Building application framework that allows to set up eLearning and content management services rapidly. Our clients are corporations, governmental agencies and educational institutions.
Below are a few examples from our projects. More detailed information is provided in chapter What we did.

Selected projects

• Conceptualisation and initiation of two large scale IT consultancy knowledge networks in South-East Asia and Africa for InWent (the former Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft) in 2001/2002/2003: Within this contract 30 ICT workshops on eLearning and eBusiness for IT consultants were conceptualised and provided with hands-on sessions on Open Source based knowledge management systems. More then 200 interviews with IT professionals in SEA and Africa and eleven assessment centers for further training programmes in Germany for junior IT consultants were conducted. Countries covered: Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
• Conceptualisation and implementation of an Open Source based multi-client training portal for the Indian Central Pollution Control Board (2002/2003).
• Implementation of an Open Source based content management system with multi-client portals for two universities in Cologne, Germany (2003)
• Conceptualization and implementation of a three month blended learning programme for 80 educational experts via an Open Source based eLearning portal on content management in Ethiopia, India and South Africa - on the Internet and through face-to-face workshops. Within this programme (financed by GTZ) providing a training module on “Organisational Development” for eLearning academies based on “Service Engineering” methods (2003).

Hoffmann & Reif coaching programmes

Through our coaching programmes knowledge owners are enabled to become providers of added value services on the Internet in the field of online publishing, eLearning, or online communities. One example is the "Comprehensive programme for building eLearning organisations - CPeO". This programme contains capacity building as well as ready-to-use technical solutions for knowledge building communities. We offer a consultancy service with out-of-the-box sets of tools and coaching modules for knowledge management, eLearning and content management - developed jointly with our partners and fine tuned through dozens of projects in Europe, Africa and Asia. With this service institutions and companies can create very cost efficiently their own businesses at an early project stage.
More information on page: The Comprehensive Package for Building eLearning Organisations

Hoffmann & Reif Learning hosting package

We provide a hosting package with collaboration, e-publishing and eLearning applications for Internet service providers (ISPs), application service providers (ASPs), publishing companies, online expert information services, and educational institutions. This service offers a great value especially for projects in the South. It enables businesses as well as institutions to offer cost efficient and reliable services to their local and regional customers. The applications are hosted in Europe but they are managed and used in the South via the Internet. Setting up an ICT infrastructure in developing countries is still very costly and cumbersome. In order to allow a rapid and cost efficient deployment of ICT projects in the South Hoffmann & Reif offers a hosting and application service in Europe that can be managed and used in the South. Thus ICT providers can jump-start their local and regional projects by using available infrastructures in the North. Should local ICT markets improve the southern stakeholders can migrate all applications to a local service provider.
More information on page: Hosting Services