Vietnam is behind the world in IoT

Internet of things (IoT) has become a new source of inspiration for enterprises all over the world, an opportunity for the business boom of startups, and a new source of revenue in the future for technology applying enterprises.

The connection of smart devices with the internet has created a breakthrough in the way humans live and work. IoT devices, applied in business activities, can help increase productivity, improve processes, optimize costs and improve users’ experiences.

However, according to Nguyen Trong Tinh, deputy CEO of Viettel Telecom, in the field of IoT, Vietnam is lagging behind the world. Vietnam needs to make greater efforts to obtain the same ratio of connection density to population as the world’s.

“Viettel can’t do this alone. It needs the cooperation of all technological firms, especially in the fields of solution development and product launching into the market,” said Tinh.

One Vietnamese has 0.2 IoT connection, while the figure is 2 connections per head in the world. Le Ngoc Quy, director of IoT Center of Viettel High Tech believes the problem is market momentum. 

The Vietnamese labor force is salaries are not high. A home help or security guard can be hired at just several millions of dong. As the labor cost is cheap, there is still no momentum to shift to automation.

Vietnamese enterprises want to have a concrete figure about the value IoT can bring. However, the technology remains new and there have been no statistics about its efficiency, so it is difficult to persuade people to make investment in it. 

The cost for workers to run systems is also a concern for businesses. These are the reasons why IoT infrastructure still cannot develop in Vietnam. 

Nguyen Minh Thi, IoT architect of Viettel Network, said the core issue of the Vietnamese IoT market is technological barriers. Many enterprises have been aware of the benefits IoT can bring, but face difficulties during deployment. They have to handle difficulties themselves and go ahead alone.