HOW TO PLAN
A TELECENTER
Module 5.3
by
Sebastian Hoffmann
shof@hoffmann-reif.com
INTRODUCTION
Assuming you have developed educational products and
already performed tests with peer experts to assess the
quality of your teaching services. What if you would like to
offer the product to a larger group of customers?
A solid service infrastructure becomes relevant, since your
customers may expect a 24 hours 7 days a week access and
support. In addition your customers may expect a classroom
where they can learn and work. Your teaching staff may
expect facilities where they can deliver teaching and
support services by means of the internet or face-to-face.
In this module you will check the conditions for running a sustainable
telecenter1 service. Since your fixed costs will raise through infrastructure this
step must be planned thoroughly. If you can run your business without
telecenters you better go for it since cost efficiency allows you more flexibility
to develop your service business. But if the lack of infrastructure limits your
business opportunities and your local or regional market shows a demand you
should start planning a solid ICT 2 based service infrastructure – the sustainable
telecenter.
CONTENT
1 TASK ........................................................................ 3
2 PROCESS .................................................................. 3
3 RESOURCES .............................................................. 4
3.1 Learning material .................................................... 4
3.2 SOP Tools .............................................................. 5
4 EVALUATION ............................................................. 5
5 CONCLUSION ............................................................ 7
6 POLL ......................................................................... 7
7 CREDITS & REFERENCES ............................................ 7
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Telecenters are facilities open to the public, offering access to Information and
Communication Technologies, especially Internet access and value added services
(e.g. education)
2
ICT = Information and Communication Technologies
How to plan a telecenter
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1
TASK
Your task is to perform a PEST 3 analysis according to a template provided.
After that you are asked to do fill in a template for a SWOT 4 analysis.
First you will get background information about a comprehensive telecenter
planning and implementation process. Your PEST and SWOT analyses should
assist help you in the decision making process at early stages.
Your peer will ask you to review her/his analysis and comment on it.
Time required for this task: about 15 hours.
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PROCESS
1. First, please download and go through the presentation material (module 1 –
4, see Resource No. 1). This material is part of a comprehensive face-to-face
telecenter training package. The slide presentations should give you orientation. Please pay special attention to the topics PEST and SWOT in module
No.2 .
Important note: Please ignore the instructions in Resource No. 1 since they
refer to the face-to-face telecenter training. Also, please note that reading the
slide presentations cannot substitute a rich group interaction taking place
during a face-to-face training and workshop event. The slides are well elaborated but some topics may require further information to become fully understood. It is intended that you get a rough understanding of the overall
planning process and that you can quickly transfer the information provided
to your strategic planning in your work environment. If you setup a telecenter business a package like The Telecenter Sustainability Training may be
suitable as preparatory and additional training.
2. Read through Resource No. 2, Definition of PEST, SWOT.
3. Check the sustainability definitions (Resource No. 3), especially the definition of the United Kingdom's Department for International Development,
and the short article “Reframing the Role of Telecentres in Development”
(see Resource No. 4)
4. Download the PEST and SWOT template and perform a PEST and SWOT
analysis for planning a telecenter. Fill in the two empty tables in this MSWord file. After having done delete all additional information (pages 1, 3
and 4) and keep the filled in tables in the MS-Word file only.
Note: Just deliver a PEST and SWOT analysis. Do not yet elaborate strategies based on the SWOT profile developed.
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PEST is an acronym for the Political, Economic, Social, and Technical factors of
the external macro-environment.
4
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
How to plan a telecenter
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5. Now use the peer review board to tap the expertise of your peers. Please
proceed as follows:
- On your course home page go to your folder “Peer Reviews” and change to
the authoring mode by typing in “manage” right after the final “/” in the web
address.
- Open the peer review object by clicking on “Edit Peer Review” and fill in
all information required. Then press “save”. After having saved add your
analysis under “files” and press “save”.
6. Now perform three steps:
- compose a management summary
- add questions for your peers and
- publish both summary and questions as welcome message to the Peer Review Board
We ask you to first author and save a management summary in a MS-Word
format and keep it as a file on your PC. This is for safety reasons to avoid
data loss when publishing the content later on the web site.
By referring to the sustainability definition of the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (resource No.3) and resource No. 4
please author 5 - 10 lines as a management summary. As a part of this management summary please describe your sustainability strategy briefly in regard to your telecenter planned, based on the results of your PEST and
SWOT analyses. Add this text to your welcome message. We recommend to
ask at least 2 questions for guidance in this welcome message so that your
peers know exactly what they are expected to do (note: always guide your
peers and make it convenient to respond). In case you refer to other documents attach them or add deep links so that your peers can quickly navigate.
Make sure that your peers can give you a valuable feedback to your PEST,
SWOT analyses and the short sustainability strategy presented.
Note: we recommend that you select those peers who are either working on a
similar subject or even in the same project together with you.
7. Finally, as initiator of the Peer Review comment the usefulness of each contribution by sending a summary to the board.
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RESOURCES
3.1
Learning material
1. John Broomfield (2004): Implementing Sustainable Telecenters – Trainers
Presentations, published by GTZ and Social Venture Partners (SVP)
Please download the material at:
http://www.crystal-netbook.info/e38601/e150158/index_eng.html
Module 1: Definitions & Approach, Module 2: Sensitization, Module 3: InHow to plan a telecenter
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vestigation, Module 4: Planning & Implementation
The material provided explains the various aspects which must be taken into
account when planning a sustainable telecenter service . It is derived fro m a
comprehensive telecenter training package.
The Telecenter Sustainability Training CD can be ordered on this page. It
may serve as a useful “content quarry” (the CD-ROM is not required).
2. QuickMBA: PEST Analysis, http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/pest/ ,
SWOT Analysis, http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/
Provides a brief definition and explanation of both analysis methods.
3. Sustainability Definitions, http://www.crystal-netbook.info/e38601/e150158/
Provides working definitions of the term sustainability.
4. Richard Heeks (2/2005): eDevelopment Briefing -- "Reframing the Role of
Telecentres in Development"
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/publications/wp/di/short/DIGBriefin
g2Telecentres.doc
Summarises some recent research looking at telecentre strategies in different
locations and at alternative perspectives on telecentres' developmental role.
3.2
SOP Tools
1. The PEST and SWOT Template, The Telecenter Sustainability Training CD:
http://www.crystalnetbook.info/e38601/e150163/e150173/Template_Pest_SWOT.doc
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EVALUATION
Your deliverables (PEST and SWOT templates filled in) will be assessed by the
instructor team in addition. Criteria of evaluation are shown in the following
matrix:
Evaluation matrix:
How to plan a telecenter
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Beginning
Developing
Accomplished
Exemplary
1
2
3
4
Completeness of
The bibliographic information Most fields are filled in with Fields filled in without rele- Fields are complete and
bibliographic in-
shows errors and major gaps.
some mistakes or blank spac- vant mistakes and gaps.
Score
correctly filled in
es.
formation (in peer
review board )
PEST analysis
The Political, Economic, So- The Political, Economic, So- The Political, Economic, So- The
according to ques- cial and Technological macro- cial and Technological macro- cial and Technological macro- Social
tions given
Political,
and
Economic,
Technological
environment has been partly environment has been partly environment has been ana- macro-environment has been
analysed; many aspects shown analysed; some aspects shown lysed; all aspects shown in the analysed in-depth; all as-
SWOT analysis
in the template have not been in the template have not been template have been filled in.
pects shown in the template
filled in.
have been filled in.
filled in.
Internal Strength and Weak- Internal Strength and Weak- Internal Strength and Weak- Internal Strength and Weak-
according to ques- nesses and external Opportuni- nesses and external Opportu- nesses and external Opportu- nesses and external Opporties and Threats have been nities and Threats have been nities and Threats have been tunities and Threats have
tions given
partly analysed; many ques- partly analysed; some ques- analysed; all questions shown been analysed in-depth; all
tions shown in the template tions shown in the template in the template have been questions shown in the temhave not been answered.
have not been answered.
answered.
How to plan a telecenter
plate have been answered.
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Your deliverables will be assessed according to:
 Upload of PEST and SWOT document for Peer Review in time – 1 point
 Upload of a welcome message incl. a short sustainabilitly strategy to a Peer
Review Board and contribution in a peer´s Review Board – 1 point
 Successful examination by instructors (minimum score 6) – 1 point
 Participation in the poll – ¼ point
All deliverables are due to as shown in the “Time Table for Deliverables” (see
online workspace as mentioned in the e-mail).
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CONCLUSION
In this module you performed a strategic analysis of a telecenter setup. Either
you may have come to the conclusion that a telecenter project is feasible or too
risky because of major internal or external obstacles. If you go for a private
sector initiative infrastructure costs increase risk of your business even more. If
a telecenter adds a unique competitive advantage to your business (or makes it
even feasible) you should go for it – if the advantage is not unique you better
leave Nice-To-Haves and concentrate on partnering (however partnering or
outsourcing does not necessarily mean that you get the services needed –
ecpecially in unsaturated markets with monopolies or lack of quality). In either
cases solid strategic planning is required from you.
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POLL
Please vote in the poll for this module which you find in the Archive for Instructional Material and SOP Resources.

Did you face difficulties to understand the PEST and SWOT analysis?

Do you think that the PEST and SWOT analysis is applicable and useful
for developing your instructional services?
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
Was the learning time sufficient to complete the task?

Did you get useful comments from your peers?
CREDITS & REFERENCES
1. The WebQuest Page
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/
How to plan a telecenter
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Published by Hoffmann&Reif, 2006
CREATIVE COMMONS PUBLIC LICENSE,
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/
How to plan a telecenter
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