The view was shared at a workshop held in the city on June 17, which focused on digital and AI transformation solutions for businesses and the workforce.

Nguyen Thanh Hoa, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Centre, noted that SMEs make up 97.5% of the city’s businesses, and digital transformation presents considerable challenges for them. During recent AI training sessions, he said, many businesses were reluctant to make significant investments in AI due to a lack of clarity about its practical benefits and outcomes.

In the near future, there will be a large force of household businesses transforming into enterprises, so they also need to apply AI technology to be able to standardize and refine their business models to achieve the best results in operation, Hoa said

Hoa added that the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Centre is actively promoting and developing advanced AI solutions capable of solving problems.

For her part, Evelyn Wong, policy director of AVPN, said public awareness and readiness for AI remain low. Citing a recent survey of 3,000 people, she revealed that 57% did not know how to self-learn about AI, while 16% feared that AI could replace their jobs. Although AI holds the promise of new opportunities, Wong stressed the importance of ensuring that the workforce has access to the tools and training needed to seize them.

In the Asia-Pacific region, where SMEs account for 80% to 96% of the workforce, digital transformation is becoming increasingly urgent. Experts at the workshop stressed the need for practical AI solutions that are affordable, scalable, and capable of delivering fast returns on investment.

For digital transformation to succeed, business leaders must clearly define their goals and identify specific problems to address. This clarity, they said, is essential for selecting the right AI technologies suited to each enterprise’s unique needs.

Vietnamese businesses lead global shift toward AI hiring

Around 91% of Vietnamese business leaders are considering hiring for artificial intelligence (AI)-specific roles, surpassing the global average by 13 percentage points, according to Microsoft Vietnam’s latest report released on June 12.